United States Government Accountability Office
GAO
Report to the Subcommittee on Oceans,
Atmosphere, Fisheries, and Coast
Guard, Committee on Commerce,
Science, and Transportation, U.S.
Senate
June 2008
COAST GUARD
Strategies for
Mitigating the Loss of
Patrol Boats Are
Achieving Results in
the Near Term, but
They Come at a Cost
and Longer Term
Sustainability Is
Unknown
GAO-08-660
June 2008
COAST GUARD
Accountability Integrity Reliability
Highlights
Highlights of GAO-08-660, a report to the
Subcommittee on Oceans, Atmosphere,
Fisheries, and Coast Guard, Committee
on Commerce, Science, and
Transportation, U.S. Senate
Strategies for Mitigating the Loss of Patrol Boats Are
Achieving Results in the Near Term, but They Come
at a Cost and Longer Term Sustainability Is Unknown
Why GAO Did This Study
What GAO Found
The Coast Guard’s 110-foot patrol
boats are used for a number of
missions, such as enforcement of
fisheries laws, and the interdiction
of migrants and illicit drugs. As
part of the Coast Guard's initial
plans to replace many of its
vessels, it intended to convert its
110-foot patrol boats into 123-foot
patrol boats with increased
capabilities until the replacement
vessel, the Fast Response Cutter
(FRC), became operational.
However, structural problems on
the eight converted 123-foot boats
led the Coast Guard to remove
these boats from service. Faced
with a loss of operational hours,
especially in the Coast Guard’s
Florida-based District 7 where
these boats operated, the Coast
Guard implemented mitigation
strategies to recover lost
operational hours.
The removal from service of eight 123-foot patrol boats in November 2006
created operational challenges by reducing patrol boat operational hours
across the Coast Guard and exacerbating an existing gap between the Coast
Guard’s operational hour target for its fleet of patrol boats and what it was
achieving. To mitigate the loss of the District 7-based 123-foot patrol boats
and their associated operational hours in fiscal year 2007 and beyond, the
Coast Guard implemented a number of strategies. These mitigation strategies
include: using the crews from the eight patrol boats removed from service to
augment the crews of eight District 7-based patrol boats (i.e., double-crewing);
periodically deploying vessels from other districts to perform missions in
District 7; increasing the operational hours of 87-foot patrol boats in District 7;
and acquiring four new 87-foot patrol boats, among others.
This report provides information
on Coast Guard patrol boat
operations and, in particular,
addresses: (1) operational
challenges created by the removal
from service of the 123-foot patrol
boats and the Coast Guard’s
strategies for mitigating their loss;
(2) effects these mitigation
strategies have had on overall
Coast Guard operational hours, as
well as operating and maintenance
costs, patrol boat crews, and
mission performance; and
(3) issues that could affect the
sustainability of these strategies.
The mitigation strategies have had a number of impacts on Coast Guard
operations—both positive and negative. On the positive side, these strategies
collectively provided approximately 21,000 additional operational hours to
District 7 in fiscal year 2007, and are projected to provide additional
operational hours in future years. On the negative side, these strategies have
increased operating and maintenance costs; reduced the availability for some
on-board crew training; and affected the performance of some missions, such
as fisheries enforcement, in districts providing vessel support to District 7.
Several issues, such as greater resource and maintenance needs, can affect
the longer-term sustainability of the mitigation strategies. The Coast Guard
notes that sustainment of the operational hour gains it achieved through
double-crewing patrol boats is dependent, in large part, on continued funding
at current levels. Similarly, any operational hour gains it plans to achieve by
revising the patrol boat maintenance and upgrade project could be impacted
by any reductions in funding. Sustaining the mitigation strategies is also
dependent on the Coast Guard’s continued ability to delay performing certain
missions in some districts to increase mission performance in District 7.
Finally, any potential delays in the delivery of the replacement FRC vessel,
expected in 2010, will make sustainment more difficult. The Department of
Homeland Security, of which the Coast Guard is a component, concurred with
our report.
One of the Coast Guard’s 110-foot Patrol Boats
To conduct its work, GAO analyzed
data and other documentation on
patrol boat operations and
mitigation strategies, and
interviewed Coast Guard officials.
To view the full product, including the scope
and methodology, click on GAO-08-660.
For more information, contact Stephen L.
Caldwell at (202) 512-8777 or
caldwells@gao.gov.
Source: Photo courtesy of the U.S. Coast Guard.
United States Government Accountability Office
Contents
Letter
1
Results in Brief
Background
Loss of Patrol Boats Has Exacerbated the Coast Guard’s
Operational Hour Shortage, and the Coast Guard Has
Implemented a Number of Strategies to Mitigate This Loss
The Coast Guard’s Mitigation Strategies Have Replaced Some Lost
Operational Hours, but Have Adversely Affected Coast Guard
Resources and the Performance of Some Missions
Several Issues, Including Greater Resource and Maintenance
Needs, Could Affect Longer Term Sustainability of Mitigation
Strategies
Agency Comments
37
41
Appendix I
Objectives, Scope, and Methodology
42
Appendix II
Number of 110-foot Patrol Boats Stationed in Each
U.S. Coast Guard District
45
Periodic Deployment of Vessels from Other Districts
to District 7, Fiscal Year 2007
47
Condition Measures for the Coast Guard’s Eight
Double-crewed 110-foot Patrol Boats, Fiscal Years
2004 through 2007
50
GAO Contacts and Acknowledgments
54
Appendix III
Appendix IV
Appendix V
Related GAO Products
4
7
17
23
55
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GAO-08-660 Coast Guard
Tables
Table 1: Information on the Vessel Classes Used to Provide
Operational Hours in District 7 to Offset the Loss of the
123-foot Patrol Boats
Table 2: The Coast Guard’s Homeland Security and Nonhomeland
Security Missions
Table 3: Operational Hour Increases Resulting from the Strategies
to Mitigate the Loss of the 123-Foot Patrol Boats in
District 7
Table 4: Information on Periodic Vessel Deployments to District 7
and the Estimated Impacts on the Donating Districts’
Missions During Fiscal Year 2007
3
9
24
35
Figures
Figure 1: Locations of the Coast Guard’s Area Commands and
Districts
Figure 2: Percentage of Operational Hours Logged by Mission for
All Coast Guard 110-foot Patrol Boats, Fiscal Years 2003
through 2007
Figure 3: Percentage of Operational Hours Logged by Mission for
District 7 110-foot Patrol Boats, Fiscal Years 2003 through
2007
Figure 4: Contributions of 110-foot and 123-foot Patrol Boats and
179-foot Patrol Coastals Toward Meeting the Coast
Guard’s Patrol Boat Operational Hour Targets during
Fiscal Years 2003 through 2007
Figure 5: Impact of the Mitigation Strategies on Replacing 123-foot
Patrol Boat Operational Hours for Fiscal Year 2007
Figure 6: Domestic Patrol Boat Operational Hours Coast Guardwide, Including Mitigation Strategy Contributions, Fiscal
Years 2003 through 2007
Figure 7: Number of 110-Foot Patrol Boats Stationed in Each U.S.
Coast Guard District
Figure 8: Periodic Deployment of Area and District Vessels from
Other Districts and Joint Interagency Task Force-South to
District 7 in Fiscal Year 2007
Figure 9: Capacity for Double-Crewed 110-foot Patrol Boats, Fiscal
Years 2004 through 2007
Page ii
8
11
12
18
29
30
46
48
50
GAO-08-660 Coast Guard
Figure 10: Unscheduled Maintenance Days (UMD) for DoubleCrewed 110-foot Patrol Boats, Fiscal Years 2004 through
2007
Figure 11: Percent of Time Fully Mission Capable (PTFMC) for
Double-Crewed 110-foot Patrol Boats, Fiscal Years 2004
through 2007
Figure 12: Average Number of Casualties per Operational Day
(ANOCOP) for Double-crewed 110-foot Patrol Boats,
Fiscal Years 2004 through 2007
51
52
53
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Page iii
GAO-08-660 Coast Guard
United States Government Accountability Office
Washington, DC 20548
June 23, 2008
The Honorable Maria Cantwell
Chair
The Honorable Olympia Snowe
Ranking Member
Subcommittee on Oceans, Atmosphere, Fisheries, and Coast Guard
Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation
United States Senate
The Coast Guard’s 110-foot patrol boats serve as key assets for a number
of Coast Guard missions, particularly living marine resources, ports,
waterways, and coastal security, and the interdiction of illicit drugs and
undocumented migrants. In 2002, as part of the Coast Guard’s initial plan
to replace or modernize existing aircraft, vessels, and information
management capabilities—also known as the Deepwater Program—the
Coast Guard intended to convert all 49 of its aging and deteriorating 110foot patrol boats into 123-foot patrol boats with increased capabilities.
This conversion was to serve as a bridging strategy until a replacement
vessel, the Fast Response Cutter (FRC), became operational. Conversion
of the first eight 110-foot patrol boats began in February 2003; however,
hull buckling and other structural problems among the eight converted
patrol boats led the Coast Guard to first impose operating restrictions and
then, ultimately, halt all future patrol boat conversions in June 2005. As the
123-foot patrol boats continued to experience structural and mechanical
problems leading to operational and safety concerns, the Coast Guard
decided to remove all eight of the 123-foot patrol boats from service in
November 2006. Then, in April 2007, the Coast Guard announced its
decision to permanently decommission these patrol boats.
Because all of the converted patrol boats that were removed from service
came from one district—District 7, based in Miami, Florida, and generally
covering the coasts and adjacent waters of South Carolina, Georgia,
Florida, and Puerto Rico—the Coast Guard was faced with a loss of
operational hours in that district, leading it to develop strategies for
mitigating the loss of these patrol boats’ operational hours until the
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GAO-08-660 Coast
ast Guard
replacement vessel, the FRC, is delivered and becomes operational.1
According to the Coast Guard, the first FRC is currently anticipated to be
delivered in late fiscal year 2010.
This report, prepared at your request, examines Coast Guard patrol boat
operations and the actions taken to mitigate the loss of patrol boat
operational hours brought about by the removal from service of the eight
123-foot patrol boats. Specifically, this report addresses:
•
•
•
the operational challenges created by the removal from service of the
123-foot patrol boats, and strategies the Coast Guard has implemented
to mitigate these challenges;
effects these mitigation strategies have had on overall Coast Guard
operational hours, as well as operating and maintenance costs, patrol
boat crews, and mission performance; and
issues that could affect the sustainability of these mitigation strategies.
In conducting our work, we analyzed reports, memoranda, operational
hour data, relevant asset condition measures, and other documentation on
Coast Guard patrol boat operations and mitigation strategies. Part of our
analyses included a review of the types of vessels the Coast Guard has in
its fleet that have been used to mitigate the loss of 123-foot patrol boat
operational hours. Table 1 details some of the operating characteristics of
the 110-foot patrol boats, the 87-foot coastal patrol boats, and 179-foot
patrol coastals on loan from the Navy, which have all been used to assist
District 7 in fulfilling its mission requirements.2
1
To accomplish its responsibilities, the Coast Guard is organized into two major commands
that are responsible for overall mission execution—one in the Pacific area and the other in
the Atlantic area. These commands are divided into nine districts which, in turn, are
organized into 35 sectors that unify command and control of field units and resources, such
as multimission stations and patrol boats.
2
Since fiscal year 2005, the Coast Guard has had operational command of three to five Navy
179-foot patrol coastal vessels, established via a Memorandum of Agreement with the Navy.
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GAO-08-660 Coast Guard
Table 1: Information on the Vessel Classes Used to Provide Operational Hours in District 7 to Offset the Loss of the 123-foot
Patrol Boats
Capability
87-foot coastal patrol boat
110-foot patrol boat
179-foot patrol coastal
65
41
5
1 officer or officer in charge, 9 enlisted
2 officers, 14 enlisted
2 officers, 24 enlisted
25 knots
30 knots
35+ knots
3 days
5 days
10 days
2,800 gallons
10,380 gallons
14,500 gallons, plus 5,632
additional reserve
Search and rescue
Marine environmental protection
Ports, waterways, and coastal security
Migrant interdiction
Counter drug
Living marine resources
Search and rescue
Marine environmental protection
Ports, waterways, and coastal security
Migrant interdiction
Counter drug
Living marine resources
Search and rescue
Marine environmental protection
Ports, waterways, and coastal security
Migrant interdiction
Counter drug
Living marine resources
Defense readiness
Number in fleet
Crew size
Maximum speed
Endurance
a
Fuel capacity
Missions
Defense readiness
Source: U.S. Coast Guard.
a
Endurance is the total amount of time a vessel is capable of patrolling with the amount of fuel, food,
and water that it carries on board.
Note: Photographs were located on the U.S. Coast Guard Pier System Web site and U.S. Coast
Guard Visual Information Server, both of which provide photographs for public use. The 87-foot patrol
boat photo was taken by PA2 Tiffany Powell, and the 110-foot patrol boat photo was taken by Petty
Officer 3rd Class David R. Marin.
In addition to our data analyses, we also interviewed Coast Guard officials
responsible for managing patrol boat operations, developing and
implementing mitigation strategies, and gathering and reporting data on
patrol boat condition measures. Specifically, we met with officials from
the Coast Guard’s headquarters and various field locations who have
either developed and implemented mitigation strategies, experienced the
loss of the 123-foot patrol boats, or deployed vessels to assist District 7 in
achieving its operational missions.
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GAO-08-660 Coast Guard
To assess the reliability of the operational hour and vessel condition data
obtained from the Coast Guard, we questioned knowledgeable officials
about the data and the systems that produced the data and performed
electronic testing for obvious errors in accuracy and completeness. On the
basis of our assessments, we determined that the data were sufficiently
reliable for the purposes of this report. Appendix I describes our scope
and methodology in greater detail.
We conducted this performance audit from July 2007 through June 2008 in
accordance with generally accepted government auditing standards. Those
standards require that we plan and perform the audit to obtain sufficient,
appropriate evidence to provide a reasonable basis for our findings and
conclusions based on our audit objectives. We believe that the evidence
obtained provides a reasonable basis for our findings based on our audit
objectives.
Results in Brief
The removal from service of the Coast Guard’s eight 123-foot patrol boats
in November 2006 created operational challenges by reducing patrol boat
operational hours and exacerbating a gap between the Coast Guard’s
operational hour target for its patrol boat fleet and what it was achieving,
so the Coast Guard implemented six strategies to mitigate the loss of these
operational hours. The Coast Guard originally established a target of
99,400 operational hours that would be provided by new vessels as part of
the Deepwater program based on the capacity of its 110-foot patrol boat
fleet in 1998. However, since fiscal year 2000, the Coast Guard has fallen
short of this target, with operational hours declining from approximately
88,000 domestic 110-foot patrol boat operational hours in fiscal year 2003
to 63,000 hours in fiscal year 2006. The 123-foot patrol boats—all of which
were stationed in District 7—had provided approximately 10,000
operational hours in fiscal year 2006, and had a total operational hour
target of 20,000 hours. In an effort to mitigate the loss of the 123-foot
patrol boats and their associated operational hours, the Coast Guard
implemented a number of strategies to replace the lost operational hours
in District 7, for fiscal year 2007 and future years. These mitigation
strategies included (1) using the crews from the eight 123-foot patrol boats
that had been removed from service to augment the existing crews of eight
110-foot patrol boats in District 7, thereby providing two crews that can
alternate time operating each of the eight patrol boats (i.e., double
crewing); (2) periodically deploying vessels from other districts to perform
missions in District 7; (3) retaining the use of three Navy patrol boats
through September 2011, (4) increasing the operational hours of each of
the 87-foot patrol boats in District 7; (5) acquiring four new 87-foot patrol
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GAO-08-660 Coast Guard
boats to be stationed in District 7 beginning in September 2008; and (6)
shortening the amount of time to conduct a maintenance and upgrade
project on 110-foot patrol boats so that fewer are off-line at any one time.
The mitigation strategies implemented by the Coast Guard have had a
number of impacts on operational hours, operating and maintenance
costs, patrol boat crews, and mission performance, both positive and
negative. On the positive side, these mitigation strategies collectively
added approximately 21,000 operational hours to District 7 in fiscal year
2007. Its mitigation strategy to double crew eight 110-foot patrol boats, for
example, added approximately 5,200 of the 21,000 operational hours.
While these mitigation strategies have replaced lost operational hours to
District 7 in fiscal year 2007, and are projected to provide additional
operational hours in future years, they have also had some negative effects
Coast Guard-wide, in terms of operating and maintenance costs, crew
training, and mission performance. For instance, double crewing the eight
110-foot patrol boats increased operations, fuel, and maintenance costs by
approximately $2.6 million over a 1-year period. Additional operating and
maintenance costs for implementing these mitigation strategies include
(1) $10.5 million annually to extend the use of three Navy 179-foot patrol
coastals for 3 years through fiscal year 2011; (2) $0.5 million in fiscal year
2007 to support efforts to increase the operational hours of the 87-foot
patrol boats in District 7; (3) $30 million in fiscal year 2008 to acquire four
new 87-foot patrol boats, plus an additional $7 million to $9 million
annually to operate; and (4) $8 million to shorten the duration of the
maintenance and upgrade project for the 110-foot patrol boat fleet. While
the patrol boat crews in District 7 have generally held a positive view of
double crewing in terms of the reduced number of operational hours for
each crew and the enhanced maintenance support, officers from two of
the four double-crewed patrol boats we spoke with said that this strategy
has resulted in less time for certain training that crews can only complete
while they have access to a vessel. Finally, given the Coast Guard’s limited
assets, increasing the operational hours in District 7 has reduced the
operational hours in some other districts and has adversely affected the
performance of some missions in other districts. For example, officials
from districts that periodically deploy some of their vessels to District 7
told us that this has challenged their ability to fully enforce domestic
fishing laws and regulations in their own districts.
While the mitigation strategies the Coast Guard has implemented are
achieving results in the near-term, the Coast Guard faces a number of
issues, such as greater resource and maintenance needs, that could
potentially affect its ability to sustain these strategies for the longer-term.
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GAO-08-660 Coast Guard
First, according to the Coast Guard, the continued operation of District 7’s
eight double-crewed patrol boats for a higher number of operational hours
will depend largely on the success and funding of its augmented
maintenance support program. Second, any unexpected delays or
reductions in funding in the maintenance and upgrade project for its 110foot patrol boats could potentially result in some patrol boats remaining in
maintenance longer, thus further reducing the number of available
operational hours. Potential delays are a valid concern given that the
maintenance and upgrade project for two of the five patrol boats
completed to date were extended beyond the originally scheduled dates.
The Coast Guard is also challenged to determine the extent to which it can
continue to sacrifice or delay the performance of certain missions in some
districts to bolster mission performance in District 7. Further, while the
Coast Guard is using $30 million it was appropriated via emergency
supplemental appropriations in 20073 to mitigate its patrol boat
operational hour gap to purchase four new 87-foot patrol boats that are to
be operational in fiscal year 2009, these boats are not as capable as the
110-foot patrol boats. Thus, longer-term sustainability of the mitigation
strategies will be more difficult if the Coast Guard faces any potential
delays beyond 2010 in acquiring and deploying the first FRCs. Finally,
these mitigation strategies are being implemented at the same time that
the Coast Guard is also facing expanding requirements across various
Coast Guard missions that will require additional resources. For example,
in March 2008, we testified that the Coast Guard is facing a need to hire
and train new staff for a variety of maritime security missions.4
We provided a draft copy of this report to the Department of Homeland
Security (DHS) and the U.S. Coast Guard for review. In an e-mail received
June 11, 2008, the DHS liaison stated that DHS concurred with the report.
The U.S. Coast Guard provided written technical comments that were
incorporated into the report as appropriate.
3
U.S. Troop Readiness, Veterans’ Care, Katrina Recovery, and Iraq Accountability
Appropriations Act, 2007 (Pub. L. No. 110-28, 121 Stat. 112 (2007)).
4
GAO, Coast Guard: Observations on the Fiscal Year 2009 Budget, Recent Performance,
and Related Challenges, GAO-08-494T (Washington, D.C.: Mar. 6, 2008).
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GAO-08-660 Coast Guard
Background
Missions of the U.S. Coast
Guard and Its 110-foot
Patrol Boats
The Coast Guard is an Armed Service of the United States and the only
military organization within DHS. It is the principle federal agency
responsible for maritime safety, security, and environmental stewardship
through multimission resources, authorities, and capabilities. In its fiscal
year 2009 posture statement, the Coast Guard reported having over 49,100
full-time positions—about 42,000 military and 7,100 civilians. In addition,
the agency reported that it has about 8,100 reservists who support the
national military strategy or provide additional operational support and
surge capacity during times of emergency, such as natural disasters. The
Coast Guard also reported that it uses the services of about 29,000
volunteer auxiliary personnel who conduct a wide array of activities,
ranging from search and rescue to boating safety education. As discussed
earlier, the Coast Guard’s two major commands (Pacific Area and Atlantic
Area) are organized into nine districts which, in turn, are organized into 35
sectors that are responsible for the command and control of field units
and resources. Figure 1 shows the locations of the Coast Guard’s Area
Commands and districts.
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GAO-08-660 Coast Guard
Figure 1: Locations of the Coast Guard’s Area Commands and Districts
PACIFIC AREA
ATLANTIC AREA
Seattle
District 17
Juneau
District 13
District 9
District 1
Cleveland
Boston
Alameda
Washington D.C.
Headquarters
District 11
District 5
District 8
Portsmouth
District 14
Honolulu
District 7
New Orleans
Miami
District office
District and area office
Source: GAO (map art, analysis); MapResources (map); U.S. Coast Guard (data).
The Coast Guard has responsibilities that fall under two broad missions—
homeland security and nonhomeland security. The Coast Guard
responsibilities are further divided into 11 programs, as shown in table 2.
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GAO-08-660 Coast Guard
Table 2: The Coast Guard’s Homeland Security and Nonhomeland Security Missions
Mission and program
Program activities and functions
Homeland security mission-programs
Ports, waterways, and coastal security
Conducting harbor patrols, vulnerability assessments, intelligence gathering and analysis,
and other activities to prevent terrorist attacks and minimize the damage from attacks that
occur.
Migrant interdiction
Deploying cutters and aircraft to reduce the flow of undocumented migrants entering the
United States by maritime routes.
Defense readiness
Participating with the Department of Defense (DOD) in global military operations,
deploying cutters and other boats in and around harbors to protect DOD force mobilization
operations.
Nonhomeland security mission-programs
Search and rescue
Operating multimission stations and a national distress and response communication
system, conducting search and rescue operations for mariners in distress.
Living marine resources
Enforcing domestic fishing laws and regulations through inspections and fishery patrols.
Aids to navigation
Managing U.S. waterways and providing a safe, efficient, and navigable marine
transportation system, maintaining the extensive system of navigation aids, monitoring
marine traffic through vessel traffic service centers.
Ice operations
Conducting polar operations to facilitate the movement of critical goods and personnel in
support of scientific and national security activity, conducting domestic icebreaking
operations to facilitate year-round commerce, conducting international ice operations to
track icebergs below the 48th north latitude.
Marine environmental protection
Preventing and responding to marine oil and chemical spills, preventing the illegal
dumping of plastics and garbage in U.S. waters, preventing biological invasions by aquatic
nuisance species.
Marine safety
Setting standards and conducting vessel inspections to better ensure the safety of
passengers and crew aboard commercial vessels, partnering with states and boating
safety organizations to reduce recreational boating deaths.
Drug interdiction
Deploying cutters and aircraft in high drug-trafficking areas and gathering intelligence to
reduce the flow of illegal drugs through maritime transit routes.
Other law enforcement
Protecting U.S. fishing grounds by ensuring that foreign fishermen do not illegally harvest
U.S. fish stocks. (Note: Prior to fiscal year 2005, the Other Law Enforcement mission area
contained the Enforcement of Laws and Treaties-Other employment category which
captured those law enforcement activities that did not fall under drug interdiction, fisheries
enforcement, or migration interdiction operations).
Source: U.S. Coast Guard.
The Coast Guard uses its 110-foot patrol boats to perform a wide variety of
missions, most notably interdiction of illicit drugs and undocumented
migrants; defense operations (via six selected patrol boats deployed to the
Persian Gulf); ports, waterways, and coastal security; and living marine
resources (i.e., enforcement of domestic fishing laws and regulations). The
110-foot patrol boats have traditionally each had an annual operational
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GAO-08-660 Coast Guard
hour ceiling of 1,800 hours,5 except for those stationed (“homeported”) in
District 7 (Miami, Florida), which are supported by maintenance
augmentation teams to support an operational hour ceiling of up to 2,200
hours per year.6 Figures 2 and 3 show the operational hours provided by
the 110-foot patrol boat fleet, by mission, for fiscal years 2003 through
2007, both Coast Guard-wide and in District 7 only.
5
The Coast Guard sets these operational hour ceilings by total annual hours, and does not
break down these ceilings by mission. In addition, the Coast Guard can increase
operational hour ceilings for its vessels as needed, if it determines that it has the resources
in place to operate the vessels at a higher number of hours while sustaining their service
lives.
6
Prior to fiscal year 2004, three 110-foot patrol boats were stationed in San Diego,
California and supported by a maintenance augmentation team. While receiving this
support, these three 110-foot patrol boats were allocated 2,200 annual operational hours.
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GAO-08-660 Coast Guard
Figure 2: Percentage of Operational Hours Logged by Mission for All Coast Guard
110-foot Patrol Boats, Fiscal Years 2003 through 2007
5.77%
Other
Support
8.93%
23.26%
Drug interdiction
10.3%
12.15%
21.59%
Ports, waterways, and coastal security
18%
Living marine resource
Migrant interdiction
Defense readliness
Source: GAO (analysis); U.S. Coast Guard (data).
Notes:
“Other” includes the following missions:
Other law enforcement (foreign fisheries enforcement)
Search and rescue
Marine safety
Aids to navigation
Marine environmental protection
2.52%
2.37%
0.82%
0.03%
0.03%
The Support mission includes training; public affairs; and cooperation with federal, state, and local
agencies.
The Defense readiness hours include the six patrol boats operating in the Persian Gulf. These
vessels account for 96.92 percent of the total 110-foot patrol boat Defense readiness hours for fiscal
years 2003-2007.
While this chart shows the percentage of total operational hours logged by the 110-foot patrol boats
over a 5-year period, there can be significant year-to-year variation in operational hour totals due to
shifting mission priorities, the use of other vessels in filling certain missions, and other factors.
In conducting missions, Coast Guard vessels log the amount of operational hours deployed by
mission while on patrol. However, the Coast Guard’s system for tracking operational hours only
captures hours logged in support of the primary mission that a vessel conducts while on patrol; thus,
any secondary missions that may have been performed on a patrol by these multimission vessels
would not necessarily be reflected in operational hour data.
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GAO-08-660 Coast Guard
Figure 3: Percentage of Operational Hours Logged by Mission for District 7 110-foot
Patrol Boats, Fiscal Years 2003 through 2007
Support
9.17%
Other
9.64%
47.01%
16.34%
Defense readiness
17.84%
Drug interdiction
Migrant interdiction
Source: GAO (analysis); U.S. Coast Guard (data).
Notes:
“Other” includes the following missions:
Living marine resources
Other law enforcement (foreign fisheries enforcement)
Search and rescue
Ports, waterways, and coastal security
Marine safety
Aids to navigation
3.45%
2.70%
1.86%
1.14%
0.46%
0.03%
The Support mission includes training; public affairs; and cooperation with federal, state, and local
agencies.
The Defense readiness hours include the two District 7 patrol boats operating in the Persian Gulf.
These two patrol boats account for 96.7 percent of all District 7 110-foot patrol boat Defense
readiness hours.
While this chart shows the percentage of total operational hours logged by the 110-foot patrol boats
over a 5-year period, there can be significant year-to-year variation in operational hour totals due to
shifting mission priorities, the use of other vessels in filling certain missions, and other factors.
In conducting missions, Coast Guard vessels log the amount of operational hours deployed by
mission while on patrol. However, the Coast Guard’s system for tracking operational hours only
captures hours logged in support of the primary mission that a vessel conducts while on patrol; thus,
any secondary missions that may have been performed on a patrol by these multimission vessels
would not necessarily be reflected in operational hour data.
Evolution of the
Deepwater Program
The Coast Guard began the Deepwater program in the mid-1990s as the
largest acquisition program in the Coast Guard’s history and it has evolved
over time in terms of the mix and number of assets to be acquired, and the
schedule for delivery. The Deepwater program involves modernizing and
acquiring a number of aircraft; vessels; and command, control,
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GAO-08-660 Coast Guard
communications, computer, intelligence surveillance, and reconnaissance
systems to improve the Coast Guard’s ability to achieve its variety of
missions. Rather than using a traditional acquisition approach of replacing
individual classes of legacy vessels and aircraft through a series of
individual acquisitions, the Coast Guard chose a system-of-systems
strategy that would replace the legacy assets with a single, integrated
package.7 To carry out this acquisition, the Coast Guard awarded the
competitive contract to a systems integrator, which for the Deepwater
program, was a contractor composed of two major companies acting as a
joint venture, responsible for designing, constructing, deploying,
supporting, and integrating the various assets to meet projected
Deepwater operational requirements at the lowest possible costs, either
directly or through subcontractors. However, after experiencing a number
of management challenges under the systems integrator approach, the
Coast Guard has recognized that it needs to increase government oversight
and has begun to transfer system integration and program management
responsibilities back to the Coast Guard. Our prior reports on the
Deepwater program are listed in the Related GAO Products section at the
end of this report.
The Coast Guard currently operates 41 110-foot patrol boats that will
ultimately be replaced under the Deepwater program. Of the 41 110-foot
patrol boats in the Coast Guard’s fleet, 28 are homeported in districts
within the Atlantic Area Command’s area of responsibility (17 of those in
District 7), while the remaining 13 are homeported in districts within the
Pacific Area Command’s area of responsibility. See appendix II for further
details on the location of the Coast Guard’s 110-foot patrol boat fleet.
Conversion of 110-foot
Patrol Boats to 123-foot
Patrol Boats
Between January 2001 and November 2006, numerous events contributed
to the difficulties the Coast Guard experienced with its strategy to convert
its legacy 110-foot patrol boats into more capable 123-foot patrol boats. In
January 2001, an independent study found that the 110-foot patrol boats
based in south Florida and Puerto Rico were experiencing severe hull
corrosion and that their structural integrity was deteriorating rapidly.8 To
address these structural issues, the Coast Guard’s original (2002)
Deepwater plan included a strategy to convert all of its fleet of then 49 110-
7
The Coast Guard’s “system of systems” approach integrates vessels, aircraft, sensors, and
communication links together as a system to accomplish mission objectives.
8
CSC Advanced Marine, Evaluation of the 110’ WPB Class Cutter Fleet (January 2001).
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GAO-08-660 Coast Guard
foot patrol boats into 123-foot patrol boats to repair the hulls and provide
additional capabilities, such as small boat launch-and-recovery capabilities
from a stern ramp; and enhanced and improved command, control,
communications, computers, intelligence, surveillance, and
reconnaissance. The first patrol boat conversion was completed in March
2004, on the Matagorda, with additional post-delivery maintenance taking
place from May through September 2004.
Despite the additional maintenance, however, the Matagorda and other
converted 123-foot patrol boats experienced structural and operational
problems that ultimately led to their removal from service in late 2006. On
September 10, 2004, while in transit from Key West to Miami, Florida, to
evade a hurricane, the Matagorda experienced hull and deck buckling. By
March 2005, five other converted 123-foot patrol boats also began
experiencing similar hull deformations. As a result of structural
deformations experienced on these five converted patrol boats, in April
2005, the Coast Guard imposed operational restrictions on all of its 123foot patrol boats, which it had previously lifted after completing a
structural upgrade developed and installed after the September 2004
Matagorda hull and deck buckling. These restrictions specified that the
converted patrol boats could not operate and were required to return to
port in seas with wave heights exceeding 8 feet (they were originally
intended to operate in seas up to roughly 13 feet) and that they had to
operate at reduced speeds for any seas greater than 3 to 4 feet. In June
2005, due to continued problems with the hulls and their inability to meet
post-9/11 mission requirements, the Coast Guard halted the 123-foot patrol
boat conversions. Despite the operational restrictions in place, a number
of the converted 123-foot patrol boats continued to experience hull and
deck buckling and other issues affecting operational capabilities, leading
the Coast Guard to ultimately remove all eight boats from service on
November 30, 2006, because of continued operational and safety concerns.
Then, on April 17, 2007, the Coast Guard announced its decision to
permanently decommission the 123-foot patrol boats.
Patrol Boat Sustainment
Efforts
Prior to and during the patrol boat conversions, the Coast Guard took
measures to strengthen the condition of its patrol boat fleet. Specifically,
in 2002, the Coast Guard initiated its Hull Sustainment Project as an
extended drydock developed to target the deteriorating hulls of its 110foot patrol boats. As time went on, the Hull Sustainment Project grew to
include other work beyond hull replacement and its name was changed to
the Hull Bridging Sustainment Project. From March 2002 to June 2006, 11
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GAO-08-660 Coast Guard
of the 110-foot patrol boats went through the Hull Bridging Sustainment
Project.
In April 2006, in an effort to mitigate increased maintenance hours and
costs, the Coast Guard initiated the Mission Effectiveness Project (MEP)
for the 110-foot patrol boats. The MEP was designed to modernize or
replace obsolete and unsupportable hull, mechanical, and electrical
equipment—such as hull plating and underwater appendages, pumps,
motors, piping, generators, and power distribution equipment. The Coast
Guard plans to induct a total of 20 110-foot patrol boats into the MEP
through February 2013.9 As of May 2008, five 110-foot patrol boats have
completed the MEP. Through fiscal year 2008, the Coast Guard has been
funded a total of $109.7 million for this initiative and estimates that it will
need an additional $56.3 million through fiscal year 2012, for a total
estimated MEP cost of $166 million.10
Development and
Procurement of the FRC
The ultimate long-term replacement for the 110-foot patrol boat fleet, the
FRC, has experienced challenges in its development. The FRC, originally
envisioned as a 140-foot cutter built largely of composite materials rather
than steel, was initially scheduled to be delivered beginning in 2018.11 In
light of the problems encountered with the patrol boat conversions in
2005, the Coast Guard accelerated the design and delivery of the first FRC
to 2007. However, in February 2006, design work on a composite-hulled
9
According to Coast Guard officials, they arrived at a total of 20 110-foot patrol boats for
the MEP as follows: 29 of the 41 vessels use an engine type that the Coast Guard considers
to be more capable and reliable, and thus worth preserving through the MEP process. Six
of these 29 are currently serving in the Persian Gulf, where they are being maintained
through supplemental funding; three additional vessels are homeported in District 14
(Guam or Hawaii), and the Coast Guard has determined not to place these vessels in the
MEP due to high costs of transit and loss of operational time. Thus, 20 110-foot patrol boats
remain for the MEP.
10
Of the $109.7 million, $49.2 million was from the Emergency Supplemental Appropriations
Act for Defense, the Global War on Terror, and Tsunami Relief, 2005 (Pub. L. No. 109-13,
119 Stat. 231 (2005)) and was used for the first six cutters entering MEP. This supplemental
funding was not included in the Deepwater Acquisition Program Baseline cost.
11
As used in shipbuilding, composite materials are typically plies of various reinforcing
fabrics laminated together.
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GAO-08-660 Coast Guard
FRC was suspended due to design risks, including excessive weight and
horsepower requirements compared with standard patrol boats.12
To address the FRC delays, the Coast Guard elected to move ahead with a
dual path approach. First, the Coast Guard plans to acquire a commercial
“off-the-shelf” patrol boat design (the FRC-B) that it can modify to meet its
requirements. In June 2007, the Coast Guard issued a Request for
Proposals for the FRC-B, and expects to award the FRC-B contract in the
fourth quarter of fiscal year 2008, with the lead vessel to be delivered by
the fourth quarter of fiscal year 2010. Coast Guard officials have stated
that the goal is to acquire 12 FRC-Bs by 2012 and have the last of these 12
FRC-Bs operational by the second quarter of fiscal year 2013.
The second part of the Coast Guard’s dual path approach is to acquire a
redesigned FRC (the FRC-A) that would meet all of its requirements. In
March 2008, we reported that Coast Guard officials recommended that the
Coast Guard not pursue acquisition of an FRC-A design that includes
unproven composite hull technology.13 This recommendation was based
largely on a third-party analysis that found the composite technology
unlikely to meet the desired 35-year service life under the Coast Guard’s
operational conditions. Further, officials believe that the use of the
proposed composite materials would not offset high initial acquisition
costs, as initially proposed.
We have reported on the Coast Guard’s Deepwater Program, as well as
related maintenance and operational issues, since 1998. A complete list of
related GAO products can be found at the end of this report.
12
GAO, Coast Guard: Status of Deepwater Fast Response Cutter Design Efforts,
GAO-06-764 (Washington, D.C.: June 23, 2006).
13
GAO, Status of Selected Aspects of the Coast Guard’s Deepwater Program, GAO-08-270R
(Washington, D.C.: Mar. 11, 2008).
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GAO-08-660 Coast Guard
Loss of Patrol Boats
Has Exacerbated the
Coast Guard’s
Operational Hour
Shortage, and the
Coast Guard Has
Implemented a
Number of Strategies
to Mitigate This Loss
For years, the Coast Guard has faced a gap between the expected and
actual operational hours provided by its fleet of 110-foot and 123-foot
patrol boats. The loss of the 123-foot patrol boats has only served to
worsen this gap. As a result of this loss, the Coast Guard implemented a
number of strategies in fiscal year 2007 designed to mitigate the loss of the
123-foot patrol boats and help fill the patrol boat operational hour gap.
Loss of the 123-foot Patrol
Boats Has Heightened the
Coast Guard’s Patrol Boat
Operational Hour Gap
The loss of the 123-foot patrol boats has exacerbated the existing gap
between the Coast Guard’s operational hour targets for its fleet of patrol
boats and what it was achieving. In particular, in 1998, the Coast Guard
established an annual target of 99,400 operational hours to achieve from
its then fleet of 49 110-foot patrol boats. Then, in 2004, the Coast Guard
updated its annual patrol boat operational hour target to 174,000 hours
based on its plan to achieve 3,000 operational hours from each of the 58
new Fast Response Cutters to be deployed as part of the Deepwater
Program.14 Data provided by the Coast Guard show that since fiscal year
2000, the Coast Guard has fallen short of both target levels, with domestic
110-foot patrol boat operational hours declining from approximately
87,719 hours in fiscal year 2003 to 63,318 hours in fiscal year 2006, before
increasing slightly in fiscal year 2007, as shown in figure 4.
14
This 174,000 operational hour target represents what the Coast Guard calculated it
needed from its patrol boat fleet as part of the post-9/11 2004 Deepwater Mission Needs
Statement. The post-9/11 Mission Needs Statement was approved by the Commandant and
DHS in January 2005, but has always been referred to as the 2004 Mission Needs Statement
because the document was prepared and routed within the Coast Guard during 2004.
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GAO-08-660 Coast Guard
Figure 4: Contributions of 110-foot and 123-foot Patrol Boats and 179-foot Patrol
Coastals Toward Meeting the Coast Guard’s Patrol Boat Operational Hour Targets
during Fiscal Years 2003 through 2007
Operational hours
200,000
180,000 2004 Revised target
160,000
Operational hour gap
140,000
120,000
100,000 1998 Target
Operational hour gap
80,000
60,000
40,000
20,000
0
2003
2004
2005
2006
2007
Fiscal year
179-foot patrol coastals
123-foot patrol boats
Domestic 110-foot patrol boats
Source: GAO (analysis); U.S. Coast Guard (data).
Notes
This figure excludes the operational hours of 110-foot patrol boats currently deployed to the Persian
Gulf.
The 1998 target (99,400 hours) refers to the patrol boat operational hour target, as defined by the
Coast Guard, that was used as the original basis for patrol boat capacity replacement under the
original Deepwater system approach.
The 2004 revised target is based on the Coast Guard’s post-9/11 reassessment of its patrol boat
mission needs. This reassessment established a new annual patrol boat target of 174,000 operational
hours, which the Coast Guard planned to achieve by acquiring 58 FRCs to operate 3,000 hours each
annually.
In addition to this overall decrease in operational hours by the 110-foot
patrol boat fleet, the 123-foot patrol boats, when they operated, also faced
a gap between expected and actual operational hours. Specifically, the
eight 123-foot patrol boats were expected to collectively provide 20,000
annual operational hours. However, due to structural and mechanical
problems, the 123-foot patrol boats provided only about half that target—
approximately 10,000 operational hours—in fiscal year 2006, the last full
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GAO-08-660 Coast Guard
fiscal year in which they operated, before being removed from service in
early fiscal year 2007.
Two additional factors have affected the patrol boat operational gap since
fiscal year 2003. First, beginning in March 2003, up to six 110-foot patrol
boats have contributed to the joint U.S. Navy and Coast Guard National
Fleet Policy and the Coast Guard’s general defense mission by operating in
the Persian Gulf. Two of these six vessels were previously stationed and
operating in District 7, while the other four were previously based in other
Atlantic Area Districts. While these vessels have provided operational
hours in support of this mission, these vessels have not been available to
the Coast Guard for planned domestic missions. As a result, their loss also
contributes to the gap in patrol boat operational hours. Second, as many
as four 110-foot patrol boats have been unavailable at any one time
because they were undergoing planned maintenance and upgrades as part
of the 110-foot patrol boat MEP. As discussed earlier, the MEP was
implemented in April 2006 to modernize or replace obsolete and
unsupportable hull, mechanical, and electrical equipment for select 110foot patrol boats. Going forward, three rather than four 110-foot patrol
boats are projected to undergo the MEP at any given time through fiscal
year 2013. During this period, at least one vessel in the program is
expected to be from District 7.
The loss of the 123-foot patrol boats, when combined with the two factors
mentioned above, left the Coast Guard—and District 7 in particular—
about 20,000 operational hours short of the 1998 operational hour baseline
each year from fiscal years 2003 through 2007. Further, in addition to the
loss of operational hours—which the Coast Guard has taken steps to
mitigate, as discussed later—having eight fewer vessels available to
perform operations has negative effects that are difficult to quantify. For
example, having eight fewer vessels means that the deterrence factor of
having more vessels visible on the water is lost, and there are fewer
vessels available to surge to areas of high demand, if needed. Officials
from one District noted that the Coast Guard can surge resources well
when needed, but having eight fewer vessels leaves the Coast Guard “thin
to barren” in other areas should additional threats emerge. In addition, a
Coast Guard official has noted that in the event of a major failure (e.g.,
major hole in the hull or the vessel running aground) on one of the doublecrewed 110-foot patrol boats, the impact would be even greater, as District
7 would then temporarily lose the services of two patrol boat crews rather
than just one.
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GAO-08-660 Coast Guard
The Coast Guard Has
Implemented a Number of
Strategies to Mitigate the
Loss of the 123-foot Patrol
Boats
Upon the removal of the 123-foot patrol boats from service in November
2006, the Coast Guard took action to implement a number of strategies to
mitigate the loss of the patrol boats and their operational hours. These
strategies include the following:
•
Double crewing eight 110-foot patrol boats stationed in District
7: The double crewing concept began in February 2007 and has become
one of the most significant strategies in terms of increasing patrol boat
operational hours in District 7. Under this strategy, the eight crews that
previously operated each of the 123-foot patrol boats are being used to
alternate operational time with the crews already operating eight 110foot patrol boats. For example, a St. Petersburg crew will operate a
110-foot patrol boat—stationed in St. Petersburg—on a 21-day patrol
and then bring the vessel into port at Key West, Florida. For 7 days, the
St. Petersburg crew and maintenance staff will perform maintenance
on the vessel and prepare it to change command over to the Key Westbased crew. The Key West-based crew will then operate the vessel for
21 days and bring it into port at St. Petersburg, beginning the crew
rotation cycle again. The Coast Guard implemented this strategy
expecting to gain additional operational hours from these 110-foot
patrol boats. During fiscal year 2008, this strategy has evolved into
what the Coast Guard calls a “high tempo, high maintenance”
organization for its double-crewed 110-foot patrol boats in District 7.
The Coast Guard is also using a new approach to contract for major
maintenance and providing additional staff to conduct patrol boat
maintenance in support of District 7, to provide a greater level of
maintenance support to the double-crewed 110-foot patrol boats.
Specifically, the Coast Guard plans to accelerate the maintenance cycle
of the double-crewed 110-foot patrol boats by hiring 45 new
maintenance and engineering support staff.15 The explanatory
statement16 accompanying the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2008
directed additional funding in fiscal year 2008 to pilot this more
15
A standard patrol boat maintenance cycle consists of one drydock availability (major
maintenance work that can only be completed when a vessel is out of the water, typically
lasting 6 weeks) every 3 years, with one dockside availability (major maintenance work
that can be completed while a vessel is in the water, typically lasting 3 weeks) every 2
years. The high tempo, high maintenance approach will shorten this to one drydock
availability every 18 months, with one dockside availability every 9 months between
drydock availabilities.
16
House Committee on Appropriations, 110th Cong., Legislative Text and Explanatory
Statement 1057 (Committee Print 2008).
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GAO-08-660 Coast Guard
intensive maintenance regime.17 The Coast Guard expects that this
“high tempo, high maintenance” approach will provide an even greater
number of operational hours than the double-crewing model
implemented during fiscal year 2007.18
•
17
Periodic deployment of vessels from other districts: The Coast
Guard’s Atlantic Area Command coordinated the deployment of a
number of vessels under its operational command to District 7 in an
effort to increase operational hours and help meet mission
requirements for District 7 during fiscal year 2007. Specifically, medium
endurance cutters and the 179-foot patrol coastals were periodically
deployed from Districts 1, 5, and 8, and the Joint Interagency Task
Force–South to District 7’s areas of responsibility to increase the
available operational hours and help perform certain important
missions, such as interdiction of undocumented migrants.19 In addition,
each of these districts periodically deployed vessels under its own
control—such as seagoing buoy tenders and 87-foot patrol boats—to
District 7 to assist in missions, such as undocumented migrant
interdiction and search and rescue.20 The Coast Guard is continuing to
implement some of these deployments during fiscal year 2008.
Pub. L. No. 110-161, 121 Stat. 1844 (2007).
18
In addition, under the high tempo, high maintenance approach, crews will be located in
the same homeport as the cutters they work on, thus eliminating the need to switch
command between homeports.
19
District 1 (Boston, Massachusetts), District 5 (Portsmouth, Virginia), and District 8 (New
Orleans, Louisiana) are part of the Coast Guard’s Atlantic Area Command along with
District 7. The Joint Interagency Task Force-South in Key West, Florida, under the U.S.
Southern Command, has primary responsibility for U.S. detection and monitoring of drug
trafficking activities in the transit zone, which encompasses Central America, Mexico, the
Caribbean Sea, the Gulf of Mexico, and the eastern Pacific Ocean. The Coast Guard has
primary operational control for most interdiction operations. The Department of Defense
provides maritime patrol aircraft, helicopters, and ships; the Department of Homeland
Security—primarily, the Coast Guard and the U.S. Customs and Border Protection—
provides maritime patrol aircraft, ships, and law enforcement assistance; and the
Department of Justice provides prosecutorial and law enforcement assistance. Joint
Interagency Task Force-South also receives some operational support from various
countries within the transit zone, and France, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom
also provide air and maritime assistance in the eastern Caribbean Sea.
20
A buoy tender is a vessel used by the Coast Guard in its aids to navigation mission, which
involves establishing and maintaining a large number of navigational aids, such as buoys or
beacons, to assist mariners and prevent disasters, collisions, or wrecks.
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GAO-08-660 Coast Guard
•
Retaining three Navy vessels through fiscal year 2011: The Coast
Guard renewed an existing Memorandum of Agreement with the U.S.
Navy to retain three of the five 179-foot patrol coastal class cutters on
loan from the Navy through September 2011.21
•
Increasing the operational hours of some 87-foot patrol boats:
As another strategy to increase the availability of operational hours, in
fiscal year 2007, the Coast Guard increased the total number of hours
each of the 11 87-foot patrol boats homeported in District 7 could
operate annually from 1,800 to 2,000 hours.
•
Procuring four new 87-foot patrol boats: The Coast Guard has
procured four new 87-foot patrol boats that are to be homeported in
District 7. The Coast Guard estimates that these new patrol boats will
be delivered beginning in September 2008, and anticipates operating
each of these vessels at 1,800 hours per year, for a total of 7,200 hours.
•
Amending the 110-foot patrol boat MEP schedule: The Coast
Guard is also amending the 110-foot patrol boat MEP schedule to
reduce the number of patrol boats inducted each year into the MEP
from four to three hulls and decrease the time of the MEP from 12 to 9
months.
21
The Maritime Transportation Security Act of 2002 (Pub. L. No. 107-295, 116 Stat. 2064,
2106 (2002)) provided that the Secretary of the department in which the Coast Guard is
operating may accept, by direct transfer without cost, for use by the Coast Guard primarily
for expanded drug interdiction activities required to meet national supply reduction
performance goals, up to 7 PC-170 patrol craft from the Department of Defense if it offers
to transfer such craft. These vessels, originally 170 feet in length, were later fitted with a
stern ramp modification that extended their length to 179 feet; thus, we refer to these
vessels as the 179-foot patrol coastals. Per the amendment to the original Navy-Coast
Guard Patrol Coastal Inter-Service Transfer Memorandum of Agreement signed in 2004, the
Coast Guard will return operational control of the Tempest, homeported in Pascagoula,
Mississippi; and the Monsoon, homeported in San Diego, California to the Navy in
September 2008. The Zephyr, homeported in San Diego, and the Shamal and Tornado,
homeported in Pascagoula, will remain under the operational control of the Coast Guard
until September 2011. The Coast Guard plans to relocate the Zephyr to Pascagoula in
October 2008.
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GAO-08-660 Coast Guard
The Coast Guard’s
Mitigation Strategies
Have Replaced Some
Lost Operational
Hours, but Have
Adversely Affected
Coast Guard
Resources and the
Performance of Some
Missions
The mitigation strategies discussed have yielded some positive and
negative impacts for the Coast Guard to date. On the positive side, these
strategies have allowed the Coast Guard to recoup approximately 21,000
operational hours towards replacing lost 123-foot patrol boat hours and
filling its patrol boat operational hour gap. However, these strategies were
not without adverse impacts. Particularly, some of these strategies have
adversely affected operations and maintenance costs, time available for
crew training, and mission performance in districts donating assets to
District 7.
The Coast Guard’s
Mitigation Strategies Have
Provided Operational
Hours towards the Patrol
Boat Operational Hour
Gap
As detailed in table 3, the mitigation strategies that the Coast Guard began
to employ in fiscal year 2007 provided approximately 21,000 additional
operational hours toward District 7 operations.
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GAO-08-660 Coast Guard
Table 3: Operational Hour Increases Resulting from the Strategies to Mitigate the Loss of the 123-Foot Patrol Boats in
District 7
Strategy
Double crewing eight 110-foot patrol
boats in District 7 (using crews originally
on 123-foot patrol boats)
Estimated operational hour increases in
a
District 7 in fiscal year 2007
Estimated annual operational hour
increases in District 7 beyond fiscal year
2007
5,220 hours
11,200 hours annually
(Using February–September 2007 data on
total operational hours minus District 7
operational hour ceiling)
(Based on operational hour ceiling increase
of 1,400 hours per cutter) under original
double-crew initiative for fiscal year 2008.
However, under the new high tempo, high
maintenance model that has been adopted,
the Coast Guard estimates this operational
hour gain to be 14,400 hours annually,
beginning in fiscal year 2009.
Periodic deployment of Area/District
b,c
assets to District 7, as follows:
6,521 hours
N/A for Area assets
Note: these hours were provided at the
expense of the donor districts, as shown
below)
The impact of Area asset deployments
cannot be estimated, as hours were
apportioned before fiscal year 2008 based
on district need, whereas for fiscal year
2007, some hours had been allotted to
districts but were deployed by Atlantic Area
in support of District 7.
District assets: 2,150 hours in fiscal year
2008
District 1:
Seagoing buoy tender (District asset)
500 hours
Medium endurance cutter (Area
asset)
264 hours
500 hours in fiscal year 2008
District 5:
Seagoing buoy tender (District asset)
419 hours
Medium endurance cutter (Area
asset)
540 hours
Page 24
500 hours in fiscal year 2008
GAO-08-660 Coast Guard
Strategy
Estimated operational hour increases in
a
District 7 in fiscal year 2007
Estimated annual operational hour
increases in District 7 beyond fiscal year
2007
District 8:
548 hours
350 hours in fiscal year 2008
Six Coastal patrol boats (District
asset)
1,130 hours
800 hours in fiscal year 2008
Medium endurance cutters
2,420 hours
Seagoing buoy tender (District asset)
(Area asset)
Three U.S. Navy patrol coastals
(Area asset)
1,608 hours
(Note: These hours are not included in the
Area/District periodic deployment total, as
they are included in the “Renewal of Navy
MOA” strategy above. These hours in this
context simply reflect a loss of programmed
hours to District 8).
Joint Interagency Task Force –
South:
Medium endurance cutter
700 hours
No deployment in fiscal year 2008.
6,743 hours
7,500 hours annually
(Area asset)
Renewal of Memorandum of Agreement
with U.S. Navy, to extend the use of
three 179-foot patrol coastals from
September 2008 until Sept 2011.d
Increasing operational hour ceilings for
11 District 7 87-foot patrol boats (from
1,800 to 2,00 hours).
Purchasing of four additional 87-foot
patrol boats
(Based on operational hour data. These (Based on operational hour ceilings of 2,500
three 179s are homeported in a District 8 hours for three vessels) from fiscal year 2008
through fiscal year 2011. (Note: These are
homeport, but provided all fiscal year 2007
Atlantic Area hours, and thus will likely be
hours in support of District 7.)
divided between District 7 and District 8.)
2,783 hours
2,200 hours
(Using June-September 2007 operational
hour data versus normal operational hour
ceilings, as this strategy was formally
approved on May 30, 2007.)
(Increase of 200 hours per vessel for 11
vessels, assuming this option is carried
forward for fiscal year 2008, which is still
under discussion.)
N/A
7,200 hours
The first of these patrol boats is not projected (Likely not fully until fiscal year 2009, as they
to be delivered until September 2008.
are being delivered in late fiscal year 2008)
N/A for fiscal year 2007
3,000 hours
(Shortened MEP cycle not fully in effect until
fiscal year 2008.)
(The impact of this operational hour gain will
be spread throughout the Coast Guard, as
many other Districts will have 110-foot patrol
boats in the MEP.)
Total District 7 gain
21,267
33,250 to 36,450e
Net overall gain
14,746
31,100 to 34,300
MEP schedule alteration—reducing
number of 110-foot patrol boats at any
time from 4 to 3, and reducing their
duration from 12 months to 9 months.
e
(excludes periodic deployment hours)
Source: GAO (analysis); U.S. Coast Guard (data).
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GAO-08-660 Coast Guard
a
The Coast Guard allocates resource hours on an annual basis. Some figures in this table (estimated
increases from double crewing and increasing District 7 87-foot patrol boat operational hour ceilings)
were calculated by dividing annual resource hour allocations evenly across all months. It should be
noted that actual resource hour usage is affected by seasonal factors and therefore, the operational
hour gains shown would likely be different if seasonal trends (e.g., increase in summer recreational
boating activity, fishing season) were taken into account.
b
Certain vessels are under the command of the Area (e.g., high and medium endurance cutters, the
patrol coastals from the Navy), while other vessels (e.g., buoy tenders, patrol boats) are under the
command of districts. As such, deployment of area assets is dictated by the area command, while
districts control the deployment and use of their own assets.
c
Operational hours do not include transit time from the donor districts to District 7 for fiscal year 2007.
When transit time is added, District 1 estimated an additional 96 operational hours lost, District 5
estimated an additional 130 operational hours lost, and District 8 estimated an additional 599
operational hours lost in fiscal year 2007.
d
While the extension of the Memorandum of Agreement is considered one of the mitigation strategies,
the use of the Navy 179-foot patrol coastals actually began in fiscal year 2005, with two 179-foot
patrol coastals in District 8, and two in District 11. One additional 179-foot patrol coastal was added in
District 8 for fiscal year 2006. While the hours received by the 179-foot patrol coastals in fiscal year
2007 were not technically a “new” result of the mitigation strategy, they do represent additional hours
available to the Coast Guard to mitigate the loss of patrol boats. Any hours received from fiscal year
2009 forward (when the Memorandum of Agreement extension takes effect), could technically be
considered part of the mitigation strategies.
e
The estimated operational hour gains for future years are presented as a range, depending on
whether the original double-crewing model or high tempo, high maintenance model is in effect.
More details on the realized and projected operational hour gains of these
mitigation strategies are as follows:
•
Double crewing of 110-foot patrol boats added 5,220 operational
hours in District 7 in fiscal year 2007: From February 2007, when
the Coast Guard formally implemented the double-crewing model on
eight 110-foot patrol boats, through September 2007, double crewing
provided the Coast Guard with approximately 5,220 operational hours
above the standard number of operational hours targeted for District 7
patrol boats for 8 months. When adopting the double-crewing
approach, the Coast Guard expected that this strategy would allow it to
increase the number of annual operational hours from 2,200 to 3,600
per vessel, for a total projected increase of 11,200 hours. Conversely,
the personnel tempo for the crews is reduced, as each crew now
operates at 1,800 hours per year.22 The 5,220 hour gain fell short of the
Coast Guard’s anticipated gain over an 8-month period, which a Coast
Guard official attributed to the fact that several of the vessels did not
begin double crewing until late February or March 2007, and that one
22
Personnel tempo, in this context, refers to the amount of time that each crew actually
serves underway on the vessel annually.
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GAO-08-660 Coast Guard
of the double-crewed vessels was in an extended maintenance period.23
However, the high tempo, high maintenance model discussed earlier—
which the Coast Guard expects to be fully implemented by the start of
fiscal year 2009—has increased this operational hour target even
further. Specifically, the Coast Guard expects that this initiative will
allow it to operate the eight double-crewed 110-foot patrol boats at
4,000 operational hours per year (with each crew providing 2,000
hours). This projects to a total increase of 3,200 operational hours over
the original double-crewing approach (400 additional hours for eight
vessels). Overall, the high tempo, high maintenance model is projected
to result in a total operational hour gain of 14,400 operational hours
over normal District 7 110-foot patrol boat operational hour standards.24
The Coast Guard anticipates that this strategy will remain in place until
all 12 of the FRC-Bs are obtained—which is currently estimated in
fiscal year 2012—as long as funding remains available in the out years.25
•
Periodic deployment of vessels from other districts added 6,521
operational hours in District 7 in fiscal year 2007: As shown in
table 3, the periodic deployment of Area and District assets contributed
6,521 hours to District 7 operations in fiscal year 2007. Periodic
deployments of vessels into District 7 from other districts are expected
to continue in fiscal year 2008. While table 3 provides current estimates
of these transfers for fiscal year 2007, the contributions of Atlantic Area
Command assets to District 7 at the expense of other Atlantic Area
districts in fiscal year 2008 cannot be estimated. The Atlantic Area
Command already took programmed operational hours into account
when planning its asset allocation for fiscal year 2008. For a graphical
representation of the fiscal year 2007 vessel deployments to District 7,
see appendix III.
•
Three Navy vessels added 6,743 operational hours in District 7
in fiscal year 2007: The three 179-foot Navy patrol coastals under
23
Though the Coast Guard considers February 2007 as the start of double-crewing, not all
eight 110-foot patrol boats began double-crewing that month, but were phased in
throughout February and March 2007.
24
Specifically, the new 4,000 hour ceiling provides an increase of 1,800 hours per vessel,
given that the District 7 110-foot patrol boat ceiling was previously 2,200 hours. For eight
vessels, that leads to a gain of 14,400 operational hours.
25
According to the Coast Guard, the high tempo, high maintenance approach will be phased
out of operation on individual 110-foot patrol boats as FRCs become operational in District
7.
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GAO-08-660 Coast Guard
Atlantic Area control provided 6,743 operational hours, all for District 7
operations, in fiscal year 2007. The Coast Guard estimates that these
vessels will annually provide an additional 7,500 operational hours to
the Area Command during fiscal years 2008 through 2011. In addition to
the operational hour gains, Coast Guard analysis of the 179-foot patrol
coastals indicates that these vessels have superior range, speed, and
endurance compared to the 110-foot and 123-foot patrol boats and are
considered outstanding assets to combat illegal “go-fast” smuggling
vessels that typically run 40+ knots. According to one District official,
the 179-foot patrol coastals could also be used for ports, waterways,
and coastal security; living marine resources; and other law
enforcement missions. The 179-foot patrol coastals were used primarily
in support of the migrant interdiction mission in District 7 in fiscal year
2007.
•
Increasing the operational hour ceiling of some 87-foot patrol
boats added 2,783 operational hours in District 7 in fiscal year
2007: Adding 200 hours to the operational hour ceiling of each of the
11 District 7 87-foot patrol boats would annually add 2,200 operational
hours. As shown in table 3, the District 7 87-foot patrol boats provided
2,783 hours above normal operational hour ceilings for the time frame
in which this strategy was formally approved (i.e., June–September
2007) in fiscal year 2007.26 District 7 intends to keep the 2,000
operational hour ceiling for its 87-foot patrol boats in fiscal year 2008,
but is awaiting approval from the Atlantic Area Command.
•
Procuring four new 87-foot patrol boats may add 7,200
operational hours annually in District 7: These four patrol boats,
all of which will be stationed in District 7, could collectively provide an
additional 7,200 operational hours annually (i.e., four patrol boats
operating at 1,800 hours each) to help offset the lost 123-foot patrol
boat operational hours.
•
Amending the 110-foot patrol boat MEP schedule may add 3,000
operational hours annually Coast Guard-wide: Amending the MEP
schedule will reduce both the number of patrol boats in the MEP at any
one time, as well as the amount of time that the patrol boats spend in
the MEP. The Coast Guard estimates that this will recoup
approximately 3,000 operational hours per year, but not limited to
26
Coast Guard officials attribute the gain, which was greater than the projected operational
hour increase, to the fact that the June-September time frame represents a period of
greater migrant activity—and thus higher operating tempos—for District 7 assets.
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GAO-08-660 Coast Guard
District 7. Since the first vessel to go through the amended MEP was in
the program from June 2007 through February 2008, the amended MEP
schedule will not provide significant additional operational hours to the
Coast Guard until later in fiscal year 2008.
These strategies have provided a number of operational hours to replace
lost 123-foot patrol boat hours, and in turn, help to fill the Coast Guard’s
patrol boat operational hour gap. Figure 5 shows how the mitigation
strategies have helped District 7 replace the 123-foot patrol boat
operational hour target of 20,000 hours in fiscal year 2007.
Figure 5: Impact of the Mitigation Strategies on Replacing 123-foot Patrol Boat
Operational Hours for Fiscal Year 2007
Operational hours
25,000
20,000
123-foot patrol boat target
15,000
10,000
5,000
0
2007
Fiscal year
179-foot patrol coastals
Vessel deployments
Double-crewing gains
Increased 87-foot patrol boat hours
123-foot patrol boats
Source: GAO (analysis); U.S. Coast Guard (data).
According to a Coast Guard official, the three 179-foot patrol coastals homeported in Pascagoula,
Mississippi (District 8) provided all fiscal year 2007 operational hours in support of District 7.
The vessel deployments refer to Area (medium endurance cutters, patrol coastals) and District (buoy
tenders, patrol boats) vessel deployments that were shifted to District 7, primarily in support of the
migrant interdiction mission, and were done at the expense of the “donor” districts.
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These mitigation strategies helped District 7 to recover operational hours
from the loss of the 123-foot patrol boats, and also helped the Coast Guard
fill some of its overall patrol boat operational hour gap in fiscal year 2007,
as illustrated in figure 6. However, any hours gained from periodic vessel
deployments came at the expense of other districts in the Coast Guard,
and hours gained from additional 87-foot patrol boat operations, while
important, do not provide as many capabilities (e.g., endurance, fuel
capacity, crew size) as 110-foot patrol boats.
Figure 6: Domestic Patrol Boat Operational Hours Coast Guard-wide, Including
Mitigation Strategy Contributions, Fiscal Years 2003 through 2007
Operational hours
200,000
180,000 2004 Revised target
160,000
Operational hour gap
140,000
120,000
100,000 1998 Target
Operational hour gap
80,000
60,000
40,000
20,000
0
2003
2004
2005
2006
2007
Fiscal year
Increased 87-foot patrol boat hours
Vessel deployments
179-foot patrol coastals
123-foot patrol boats
Domestic 110-foot patrol boats
Source: GAO (analysis); U.S. Coast Guard (data).
Notes:
Any gains from 110-foot patrol boat double crewing are reflected in the operational hour totals.
The vessel deployments refer to Area (medium endurance cutters, patrol coastals) and District (buoy
tenders, and patrol boats) vessel deployments that were shifted to District 7, primarily in support of
the migrant interdiction mission, and were done at the expense of the “donor” districts.
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GAO-08-660 Coast Guard
Though the Coast Guard considers the increase in 87-foot patrol boat operational hours part of the
mitigation strategies, it must be noted that these vessels do not possess the capabilities (e.g., onscene endurance, fuel capacity, crew size) of the 110-foot patrol boats, and thus are not a full
replacement of those lost capabilities. As such, the Coast Guard does not include 87-foot patrol boat
hours when presenting information to Congress regarding its patrol boat operational hour gap.
The Mitigation Strategies
Have Adversely Affected
Operating and
Maintenance Costs, Crew
Training, and Mission
Performance
In contrast with the operational hour gains discussed, the mitigation
strategies have had Coast Guard-wide effects, including increased
operating and maintenance costs; limited onboard, in port training for
patrol boat crews; and a reduced capacity to perform some missions, such
as living marine resources, in other districts.
Mitigation Strategies Have
Increased Operating and
Maintenance Costs
Although the Coast Guard has broadened its use of existing assets and
made plans to acquire new patrol boats to recover lost operational hours
and vessels, these mitigation strategies have increased operating and
maintenance costs. These operating and maintenance costs include the
following:
•
Double crewing eight 110-foot patrol boats has increased
operating and maintenance costs: To support the increase in
operational hours by double crewing eight 110-foot patrol boats in
District 7, the Coast Guard reported spending $2.6 million more for
operations, fuel, and maintenance from February 2007 through
February 2008 compared to what it spent during a comparable period
to support these eight patrol boats before double crewing. These costs
were funded from existing 110-foot and 123-foot patrol boat accounts.
In addition to increasing the number of maintenance personnel, other
costs associated with double crewing the eight 110-foot patrol boats
included increasing the amount of scheduled maintenance to improve
patrol boat reliability and enhance the probability of reaching a
targeted 3,600 operational hours per hull in fiscal year 2007. For fiscal
year 2008, $11.5 million was congressionally directed to provide the
Coast Guard additional maintenance support, which the Coast Guard
stated it is using to support funding for 6 months of additional
personnel and 9 months of operation and maintenance costs. This is
intended to further increase the number of operational hours gained by
double crewing 110-foot patrol boats in District 7 to 4,000 hours
annually per hull.
•
Extended use of three Navy vessels will increase operating and
personnel costs: The Coast Guard extended its memorandum of
agreement with the U.S. Navy to use three Navy 179-foot patrol
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GAO-08-660 Coast Guard
coastals through 2011. The operating and personnel expenses to be
paid by the Coast Guard are approximately $10.5 million annually for
these three vessels.27
•
Increasing operational hour ceilings for 87-foot patrol boats in
District 7 increased operational, fuel, and maintenance costs: In
fiscal year 2007, the Coast Guard spent approximately $500,000 for
operational, fuel, and maintenance costs to increase the annual
operational hours of the 87-foot patrol boats homeported in District 7
from 1,800 to 2,000. According to the Coast Guard, if this practice were
to continue, it does not know exactly what the effects of the increased
operational tempo will be on the condition and service lives of the 87foot patrol boats. The Coast Guard added, though, that it anticipates
that an increase in maintenance funding, as well as days to complete
the maintenance, would be needed to combat the accelerated wear on
the 87-foot patrol boats.
•
Purchasing four additional 87-foot patrol boats will increase
operations and maintenance costs: The Coast Guard was provided
$30 million in supplemental funding to mitigate the patrol boat
operational gap.28 The Coast Guard used the funding to acquire four
new 87-foot patrol boats in fiscal year 2008 for use in District 7.
According to the Coast Guard, these four vessels cumulatively will cost
an additional $7 million to $9 million annually to operate. While these
new patrol boats should be of use in helping to close the operational
gap by freeing up other, larger assets for missions, the 87-foot patrol
boats have fewer capabilities and endurance than the 110-foot or 123foot patrol boats. For example, 87-foot patrol boats are typically used
closer to shore and cannot operate away from their homeports for as
long as 110-foot patrol boats. While District 7 will benefit from having
these vessels, the Coast Guard does not consider the 87-foot patrol
boats to be adequate replacements for the larger, more capable 110foot patrol boats and, therefore, does not include their hours in
calculating its patrol boat operational hour gap.
•
Amending the MEP schedule will increase maintenance costs:
The Coast Guard anticipates a cost increase of approximately $500,000
per vessel, for a total of $8 million (16 vessels out of the total of 20 110-
27
The Navy has provided additional funds of $2 million per vessel for major maintenance
work.
28
Pub. L. No. 110-28, 121 Stat. 112 (2007).
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GAO-08-660 Coast Guard
foot patrol boats that have been or are to be inducted in the MEP
program are currently slated to go through the amended cycle).29 This
cost increase was necessary to hire additional shift workers to shorten
the MEP cycle. The Coast Guard states that this cost will be offset by
not including the three 110-foot patrol boats homeported in District 14
(Hawaii or Guam) as part of the MEP.
Mitigation Strategies Limit
Onboard Crew Training
Coast Guard officers we interviewed who were assigned to the doublecrewed 110-foot patrol boats in District 7 generally held a positive view of
double crewing in terms of the reduced number of operational hours for
each crew and the enhanced maintenance support; however, officers from
two of the four double-crewed 110-foot patrol boats that we spoke with
noted that this strategy has resulted in less time for certain onboard
training that can only be completed while they have access to a vessel in
port or underway. According to these officials, 110-foot patrol boat crews
in District 7 previously logged 2,200 operational hours at sea away from
port; however, crews on double-crewed patrol boats will each have about
1,800 hours at sea away from port, which is 400 fewer hours in which to
train at sea onboard a vessel. For example, Coast Guard patrol boat crew
members told us that double crewing has adversely affected training for
some crew members, such as deck watch officers.30 To qualify as a deck
watch officer, a crew member must generally work for a qualification
period of 3 to 6 months, provided the crew member is underway on a
vessel for 8 to 12 days per month. Double crewing may extend this
qualification period to about 6 to 9 months. However, potential delays may
occur in the deck watch officer qualification process for a crew member
because their vessel has been scheduled for a major maintenance
overhaul. If a person has a 2 to 3 month delay because of maintenance,
they may not be able to qualify prior to the transfer season, which may
leave their crew short of deck watch officers. While some crew members
may be assigned temporary duty to another patrol boat to log training
hours, the Coast Guard acknowledges that this option is not always
29
The other four 110-foot patrol boats have already been through the longer (12 month)
cycle.
30
A deck watch officer is the commissioned, warrant, or petty officer on watch in charge of
the vessel and is responsible for the safety of the vessel and for the performance of the
duties prescribed by the commanding officer and Coast Guard regulations. Every person
onboard who is subject to the orders of the commanding officer, except the executive
officer, is subordinate to the deck watch officer.
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GAO-08-660 Coast Guard
possible. Despite this concern though, officials from the Coast Guard’s
Office of Cutter Forces state that 1,800 operational hours is consistent
with the same amount of time that all other non-District 7 110-foot patrol
boats in the Coast Guard have to train members.
Mitigation Strategies Adversely
Affect Mission Performance in
Districts Periodically Deploying
Assets to District 7
Coast Guard officials indicated that the Coast Guard’s strategy to
periodically deploy Atlantic Area and district assets to District 7 adversely
affected the donating districts’ ability to perform some missions. Coast
Guard officials have also indicated that the living marine resources (i.e.,
fisheries enforcement) mission has seen the largest adverse impact from
deployments of vessels from other districts to District 7. Additionally, in
some instances, aids-to-navigation mission work was delayed. Table 4
provides more detailed information on the effects on mission performance
for Districts 1, 5, and 8 as a result of periodically deploying vessels to
District 7 in fiscal year 2007.
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Table 4: Information on Periodic Vessel Deployments to District 7 and the Estimated Impacts on the Donating Districts’
Missions During Fiscal Year 2007
Vessel deployments
Estimated mission impacts
District 1
225-foot Seagoing buoy tender (District asset)
Loss of approximately three law enforcement boardings in support of living marine
resources mission.
Medium endurance cutter (Area asset):
Loss of approximately seven law enforcement boardings in support of living marine
resources mission.
District 5
225-foot Seagoing buoy tender (District asset):
Deferment of preventative maintenance for approximately 32 navigational aids a
and repair of 7 aid discrepancies (malfunctions or “broken” aids) in support of aids to
navigation mission.
Medium endurance cutter (Area asset):
Loss of approximately 24 boardings and 17 violation notices in support of living
marine resources mission.
District 8
225-foot Seagoing buoy tender (District asset):
Deferments of preventative maintenance for approximately 13 navigational aids and
repair of 1 navigational aid in support of the Aids-to-Navigation mission.
Six coastal patrol boats (District asset):
Loss of approximately 125 boardings in support of the following missions:
Recreational Boating Safety, Living Marine Resources, and Ports, Waterways, and
Coastal Security.
Medium endurance cutters (Area asset)
Loss of approximately 40 to 50 boardings in support of living marine resources
mission.
Three U.S. Navy patrol coastals (Area asset)
Loss of approximately 70 boardings in support of the following missions:
Recreational Boating Safety, Living Marine Resources, and Ports, Waterways, and
Coastal Security.
Joint Interagency Task Force – South
Medium endurance cutters (Area asset):
Loss of approximately 2,145 kilograms of cocaine seized (based on their average
amount of cocaine seized per ship day in fiscal year 2007) in the counter drug
mission.
Source: U.S. Coast Guard.
a
Navigational aids refer to buoys and beacons used for navigation purposes.
In fiscal year 2007, Districts 1, 5, and 8 provided over 6,000 operational
hours and a variety of vessels to District 7 to help recoup lost operational
capacity. Districts 1, 5, and 8 each donated a seagoing buoy tender and
also collectively contributed almost 5,000 operational hours from Atlantic
Area vessels (i.e., medium endurance cutters and Navy 179-foot patrol
coastals) to District 7; however, the impact of these periodic deployments
varies in each of these three districts. For example, District 1 redeployed
Willow, a 225-foot buoy tender, to District 7 where it was used as a holding
station for interdicted migrants. A Coast Guard official in District 1
estimated that dispatching the Willow to District 7 resulted in not being
able to perform three law enforcement boardings in support of the living
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GAO-08-660 Coast Guard
marine resources mission in District 1. According to this official, District 1
also lost medium endurance cutter operational hours to District 7 in fiscal
year 2007 for approximately 13 days, likely preventing the district from
attempting seven additional law enforcement boardings. Law enforcement
boardings are not only used to enforce fisheries law, but they also serve as
a deterrent for illegal living marine resources activity. District 5 officials
told us that deploying the Elm, their 225-foot buoy tender, to District 7 not
only limited their ability to perform tasks related to their aids to navigation
mission, such as immediately repairing the seven navigational aids that
were either out-of-position or malfunctioning during this period, but also
resulted in deferring preventive maintenance for the Elm for 20 days.
Additionally, Coast Guard officials told us that the Atlantic Area medium
endurance cutters that were deployed from District 5 to District 7 would
have primarily conducted living marine resources operations in District 5,
and estimated that losing 540 medium endurance cutter operational hours
to District 7 in fiscal year 2007 likely caused District 5 to miss
approximately 17 living marine resources mission violations.
District 8 contributed the greatest number of assets and operational hours
to District 7 in fiscal year 2007. In addition to dispatching the Cypress, a
225-foot buoy tender to District 7 in fiscal year 2007, District 8 also
deployed six 87-foot patrol boats to District 7 for a combined 1,130
operational hours. In addition, District 8 lost access to roughly 1,600
operational hours from the 179-foot patrol coastals on loan from the U. S.
Navy when these vessels were reprogrammed from performing missions in
District 8 to District 7. Further, District 8 lost approximately 2,400 medium
endurance cutter operational hours to District 7 in fiscal year 2007. District
8 officials estimate that the loss of the medium endurance cutter
operational hours probably resulted in about 40 to 50 lost boardings for
the living marine resources mission. According to District 8 officials,
losing a portion of its medium endurance cutter operational hours was a
significant loss because these vessels are the primary vessels used for this
mission. With the exception of its buoy tender, District 8 does not
currently have any vessels in its fleet larger than its 87-foot patrol boats,
which limits the district’s ability to conduct off-shore missions in District 8
because, according to the Coast Guard, the 87-foot patrol boats do not
have the range nor the endurance to operate in distant fisheries, and also
have a harder time sustaining a high boarding rate during living marine
resources missions.
Additionally, one Coast Guard official cited that another effect that could
not be quantified or measured was the loss of a deterrence effect by
having fewer vessels patrolling the waters in their area of responsibility.
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GAO-08-660 Coast Guard
According to an official in District 8, while it is virtually impossible to
quantify the effect of having vessels on patrol, it is very important not to
underestimate the importance of patrolling the coast because he believes
that Coast Guard patrols do lead to more safety compliance and, therefore,
safer waters.
According to the Coast Guard, periodic vessel deployments are expected
to continue in fiscal year 2008 and future fiscal years until the FRCs—the
replacement for the patrol boats—are delivered. The Coast Guard, in its
Fiscal Year 2009 Congressional Budget Justification, stated that its mission
performance in the living marine resources and other law enforcement
(foreign fisheries) missions will be “temporarily affected” by the reduction
in available patrol boats. Thus, the Coast Guard is mindful of its need to
find a proper balance between homeland security and nonhomeland
security missions, as well as the extent to which it can continue to delay or
forego the performance of certain missions in some districts to provide
additional vessels and operational hours in District 7.
Several Issues,
Including Greater
Resource and
Maintenance Needs,
Could Affect Longer
Term Sustainability of
Mitigation Strategies
The Coast Guard faces several issues that could potentially affect its
ability to sustain these mitigation strategies for the longer term. While the
double-crewed patrol boats performed well in fiscal year 2007, Coast
Guard officials have stated that it will be critical to continue to receive
sufficient funding to support this initiative in future years. Other issues,
such as continued periodic deployment of assets to District 7 and related
mission effects, delivery of the FRCs, and the Coast Guard’s expanding
mission demands, could challenge the Coast Guard’s ability to successfully
sustain these mitigation strategies.
Condition of Vessels Being
Double Crewed,
Maintenance Costs, and
Availability of Maintenance
Funds Will Affect
Mitigation Strategies’
Sustainability
Residual funding available through the 123-foot patrol boat operating and
maintenance accounts has allowed the Coast Guard to sustain the doublecrewed 110-foot patrol boats to date, but sustainment is contingent on
sufficient funding to pay for the augmented maintenance and personnel.
Coast Guard officials have indicated that through fiscal year 2007, double
crewing had not adversely affected the condition of the double-crewed
patrol boats, and its measures support this contention. In particular, our
analysis of the measures the Coast Guard uses to monitor the condition of
its vessels shows that all four measures (capacity, unscheduled
maintenance days, percent of time fully mission capable, and average
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GAO-08-660 Coast Guard
number of casualties per operational day) improved for the double-crewed
patrol boats in fiscal years 2007 over fiscal year 2006.31 See appendix IV for
further details on the trend in these condition measures for the eight
double-crewed patrol boats from fiscal years 2004 through 2007. Coast
Guard officials attribute the improvement reflected by these measures to
increased focus and planning of maintenance activities for these patrol
boats, as well as greater parts availability. However, Coast Guard officials
have also stated that they will not be able to thoroughly assess the effects
of double crewing on the condition of its eight 110-foot patrol boats until
they have gone through a complete maintenance cycle, which is now
taking 18 months under the new “high tempo, high maintenance” model.
While the effects of double crewing on the condition of the eight 110-foot
patrol boats are not fully known, Coast Guard officials have cautioned that
maintaining the condition of the double-crewed patrol boats would be
contingent on receiving sufficient resources for maintenance support.
Under the high tempo, high maintenance model, the Coast Guard expects
to retain the double-crewing concept and achieve an even greater level of
operational hours through additional maintenance support. In this regard,
for fiscal year 2008, $11.5 million was congressionally-directed to pilot an
intensive maintenance regime that the Coast Guard expects will support
funding for 6 months of additional personnel and 9 months of operation
and maintenance costs, and estimates that it will need greater levels of
funding—approximately $14.9 and $15.2 million—in the next 2 fiscal years.
However, the Coast Guard may likely not know whether this level of
funding will be adequate until maintenance contracts are signed and the
higher operational hour levels are pursued.
Scheduling and Funding of
the Mission Effectiveness
Project Affect Strategies’
Sustainability
Sustainment of the Coast Guard’s revised and shortened MEP schedule is
contingent on completion of the maintenance and upgrades on schedule
and sufficient funding. Any delays in the Coast Guard’s new shortened
MEP schedule, or reductions in anticipated funding, could extend the MEP
and reduce any gains realized by the shortened schedule. The Coast Guard
31
Capacity refers to the percentage of time that a vessel is not in maintenance status.
Unscheduled maintenance days refer to the percentage of time that a vessel class spends in
unscheduled maintenance status over the time period being measured. Percent of time fully
mission capable refers to the percentage of operational time that a vessel has no open
major casualties (i.e., deficiencies in mission-essential equipment that cause the major
degradation of a primary mission or loss of at least one primary mission). Average number
of casualties per operational day refers to the number of major casualties that remain open
each operational day.
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GAO-08-660 Coast Guard
plans to regain some 110-foot patrol boat operational hours by having
fewer vessels going through the MEP at one time and shortening the length
of the MEP from 12 months to 9 months. To realize these gains, it will be
important that the Coast Guard is able to keep the vessels on track with
this amended schedule. This is a legitimate concern, as the Coast Guard
has already seen two of the five 110-foot patrol boat boats that completed
the MEP have their time in MEP extended by approximately 1 to 2 months
due to the need to complete unexpected work required outside of the
scope of the MEP. While the Coast Guard has stated that the patrol boats
have come out of MEP on time and on budget for all standard MEP work
items, if unexpected work of this sort were to occur again, this could
lengthen the MEP process beyond 9 months and negate some of the
advantages of the shortened schedule. In addition, if the Coast Guard does
not receive the anticipated level of funding, this could also affect the Coast
Guard’s ability to get vessels through the MEP as scheduled.
Deployment of Assets from
Other Districts Will
Continue to Affect the
Coast Guard’s Ability to
Meet Certain Missions
As stated earlier, the Coast Guard is mindful of its need to balance
missions across districts and is aware that continued periodic deployment
of assets to District 7 may continue to adversely affect mission
performance in the donor districts. We have already discussed how
deployment of Area and District assets to District 7 from other districts
has adversely affected Coast Guard mission performance in those districts,
particularly in the living marine resources mission. Some periodic asset
deployments are expected to continue in fiscal year 2008 and perhaps in
future fiscal years until replacement patrol boats are delivered. The Coast
Guard acknowledges this and, in its Fiscal Year 2009 Congressional
Budget Justification, has stated that its mission performance in the living
marine resources and other missions (e.g., foreign fisheries enforcement)
will be temporarily affected by the reduction in available patrol boats.
Longer Term Sustainability
of the Mitigation Strategies
Could Become an Even
Larger Issue Depending on
FRC Delivery
One of the biggest factors that affects the sustainability of the mitigation
strategies is the timely delivery of the FRCs that will replace the 110-foot
patrol boats. While the Coast Guard has purchased four new 87-foot patrol
boats that are to be delivered by the first quarter of fiscal year 2009 using
$30 million it was appropriated via emergency supplemental
appropriations in 2007, the Coast Guard notes that these can not substitute
for either 110-foot or 123-foot patrol boats since they do not have the same
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GAO-08-660 Coast Guard
capacity or capabilities.32 Coast Guard officials have emphasized that the
mitigation strategies represent their best efforts to make the best use of
the assets they have available until the FRC is delivered—the first of which
is anticipated by the end of fiscal year 2010, with all 12 to be delivered by
the end of fiscal year 2012. Any potential delays in the construction and
delivery of the FRC will likely force the agency to continue these
mitigation strategies for an even longer period of time, which could result
in additional costs for operations and maintenance support to sustain its
110-foot patrol boats.
Increasing Mission
Demands across the Coast
Guard Could Also Affect
Sustainability of Mitigation
Strategies
Longer-term sustainability could also be affected by increased demands
the Coast Guard is facing across various homeland security and
nonhomeland security missions, as we reported in March 2008.33 For
example, with respect to the Coast Guard’s missions to protect America’s
ports, waterways, and waterside facilities, we cited a need to hire and train
new staff to address increases in the pace of foreign port inspections and
in the demand to provide security for vessels arriving at domestic liquefied
natural gas import facilities. In nonhomeland security missions, the Coast
Guard has recently been given responsibility for providing assistance for
surveillance and monitoring of the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands Coral
Reef Ecosystem Reserve, called Papahanaumokuakea.34 According to the
Coast Guard, surveillance of this monument—which includes monitoring
fishing activities and law enforcement, marine species protection, debris
recovery, and oil spill clean-up and prevention—has added an additional
enforcement responsibility onto an existing mission workload without the
benefit of increased funding, personnel, or vessels and aircraft. These
additional resource needs could affect the Coast Guard’s ability to
continue to fund the current mitigation strategies in the years to come.
32
U.S. Troop Readiness, Veterans’ Care, Katrina Recovery, and Iraq Accountability
Appropriations Act, 2007 (Pub. L. No. 110-28, 121 Stat. 112 (2007)).
33
GAO, Coast Guard: Observations on the Fiscal Year 2009 Budget, Recent Performance,
and Related Challenges, GAO-08-494T (Washington, D.C.: Mar. 6, 2008).
34
In December 2000, Executive Order 13178 authorized the creation of
Papahanaumokuakea, which is about 140,000 square miles. In 2006, the President declared
this region a national monument to be monitored by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, with support from the State of Hawaii
and the Coast Guard. To ensure that commercial fishing limitations are observed until its
prohibition in 2011, several Coast Guard vessels patrol the region and conduct search and
rescue missions, protect threatened species, and respond to potential hazards, such as
debris or damaged vessels.
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GAO-08-660 Coast Guard
Agency Comments
We requested comments on a draft of this report from DHS and the Coast
Guard. DHS declined to provide official written comments to include in
our report. However, in an e-mail received June 11, 2008, the DHS liaison
stated that DHS concurred with the report. The Coast Guard provided
written technical comments that were incorporated into the report as
appropriate.
We are providing copies of this report to the Secretary of DHS, the
Commandant of the U.S. Coast Guard, and interested congressional
committees. This report will also be made available to others upon
request. In addition, the report will also be made available at no charge on
GAO’s Web site at http://www.gao.gov. If you or your staff have any
questions about this report, please contact me at (202) 512-9610, or
caldwells@gao.gov. Contact points for our Office of Congressional
Relations and Public Affairs may be found on the last page of this report.
GAO staff who made major contributions to this report are listed in
appendix V.
Stephen L. Caldwell
Director, Homeland Security and Justice Issues
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GAO-08-660 Coast Guard
Appendix I: Objectives, Scope, and
Methodology
Appendix I: Objectives, Scope, and
Methodology
This report examines Coast Guard patrol boat operations and the actions
taken to mitigate the loss of patrol boat operational hours brought about
by the removal from service of eight 123-foot patrol boats. Our work
focused on three key questions: (1) What operational challenges were
created by the removal from service of the 123-foot patrol boats, and what
strategies has the Coast Guard implemented to mitigate these challenges?
(2) What effects have these mitigation strategies had on overall Coast
Guard operational hours, as well as operating and maintenance costs,
patrol boat crews, and mission performance? (3) What are some issues
that could affect the sustainability of these mitigation strategies?
In responding to the first question, we reviewed data and documentation
such as patrol boat operational hour data, memoranda, other internal
reports, and communications with Congress, and spoke with
knowledgeable Coast Guard officials. Specifically, we obtained data on
Coast Guard-wide operational hours provided by 110-foot, 123-foot, and
179-foot patrol boats from fiscal years 2003 through 2007. We also
obtained data from the Coast Guard on the operational hour target of its
1998 patrol boat fleet—which the Coast Guard viewed as the baseline
needed for new vessel replacement under the original Deepwater
implementation plan—as well the revised 2004 patrol boat operational
hour target established in the Coast Guard’s Revised Mission Needs
Statement, which took into account the Coast Guard’s greater mission
responsibilities post-9/11.1 We reviewed operational hour data specific to
the Coast Guard’s six 110-foot patrol boats deployed to the Persian Gulf in
support of defense operations to determine how their operations
contributed to the domestic patrol boat operational hour gap. We also
reviewed the schedule of 110-foot patrol boats going through the Mission
Effectiveness Project.2 We also discussed these operational data with
officials from the Coast Guard’s Office of Cutter Forces to gain
clarification and further details as needed. To assess the reliability of the
operational hour data, we consulted with knowledgeable Coast Guard
officials on the system responsible for gathering and reporting this data.
We also performed electronic testing of the data for obvious errors in
1
The Deepwater Program is the Coast Guard’s plan to replace or modernize existing
aircraft, vessels, and information management capabilities.
2
The Mission Effectiveness Project is designed to modernize or replace obsolete and
unsupportable hull, mechanical, and electrical equipment—such as hull plating and
underwater appendages, pumps, motors, piping, generators, and power distribution
equipment—for selected 110-foot patrol boats.
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GAO-08-660 Coast Guard
Appendix I: Objectives, Scope, and
Methodology
accuracy or completeness. On the basis of this assessment, we determined
that the data were sufficiently reliable for the purposes of this report.
Additionally, to gain an understanding of how the mitigation strategies
were developed and implemented across various levels of the Coast
Guard, we spoke with officials from the following entities: Office of Cutter
Forces, Office of Naval Engineering, Office of Performance Management
and Assessment (all at Coast Guard headquarters in Washington, D.C.);
Coast Guard Yard (Baltimore, Maryland); Atlantic Area Command
(Portsmouth, Virginia) and Atlantic Area Maintenance and Logistics
Command (Norfolk, Virginia); District 7 Command (Miami, Florida); Naval
Engineering Support Unit (Miami, Florida); Sector St. Petersburg, Florida;
Sector Miami, Florida; District 1 Command (Boston, Massachusetts);
District 5 Command (Portsmouth, Virginia); District 8 Command (New
Orleans, Louisiana); and Joint Interagency Task Force – South (Key West,
Florida). We corroborated the information gathered from these officials
with Coast Guard memoranda, internal reports, and communications with
Congress that detailed the development and status of implementation of
these strategies.
In responding to our second objective, we spoke with officials from these
many entities to discuss how the various mitigation strategies were
affecting Coast Guard operational hours, operations, maintenance, costs,
and mission performance. Specifically, in assessing the operational hour
effects of the mitigation strategies, we spoke with officials from these
entities and also analyzed the operational hour data discussed. To estimate
the operational hour gains of the double-crewing strategy, we compared
operational hour data for the eight double-crewed 110-foot patrol boats
with prorated operational hour targets for February 2007 (when double
crewing began) through September 2007. To determine the effects on
operations and maintenance of assets, we spoke with officials from these
many entities, as well as crew members from four of the double-crewed
110-foot patrol boats in St. Petersburg and Miami, Florida, to gain their
views of how double crewing has affected their operations, work tempo,
and training opportunities.
To assess the costs of the Coast Guard’s mitigation strategies, we relied on
data reported to us by the Coast Guard on the costs of: double crewing the
eight 110-foot patrol boats, as well as increased funding for fiscal year
2008 to expand the operational hour targets of this approach; acquisition
and operations of new 87-foot patrol boats; acceleration of the Mission
Effectiveness Project schedule; extending the operations of three Navy
179-foot patrol coastals for 3 additional fiscal years; and supporting
additional operational hours for 87-foot patrol boats in District 7 during
Page 43
GAO-08-660 Coast Guard
Appendix I: Objectives, Scope, and
Methodology
fiscal year 2007. We corroborated these data with other sources—such as
the congressional direction for the use of funds to support double crewing
and supplemental appropriations to mitigate the patrol boat operational
gap relating to the 87-foot patrol boat acquisitions—to the extent possible.
Regarding the costs incurred during the first 13 months of double crewing
(February 2007–February 2008), we spoke with and gathered information
from Coast Guard officials responsible for gathering this data and
determined that these data are sufficiently reliable for the purposes of this
report. We also spoke with officials from all the districts listed, and Joint
Interagency Task Force-South, to gain their estimates of how deploying
both area- and district-controlled assets have affected their abilities to
fully perform their missions. We obtained some district-level mission
performance data on some of the missions that may have been affected by
the mitigation strategies (e.g., living marine resources, drug interdiction
operations); however, through speaking with officials from the Coast
Guard’s Office of Performance Management and Assessment, we
determined that it would be very difficult to link any changes in these data
with the effects of any of the mitigation strategies, since these data values
may be affected by a large number of factors. Thus, we relied on estimates
from district officials, as well as interviews with the Coast Guard’s Office
of Performance Management and Assessment, to assess the effects of the
mitigation strategies.
In responding to our third objective, we relied largely on the information
collected from our data gathering and interviews, in conjunction with our
prior work on larger Coast Guard-wide challenges. In assessing issues that
may affect the sustainability of the double-crewing effort, we explored
how double crewing may have affected the condition of the eight 110-foot
patrol boats by interviewing officials with the Office of Naval Engineering,
Sectors St. Petersburg and Miami, and Naval Engineering Support Unit,
Miami, as well as by reviewing measures (capacity, unscheduled
maintenance days, percent of time fully mission capable, and average
number of casualties per operational day) used by the Coast Guard to
track the condition of its vessels. We assessed the reliability of these
condition measures, and the data and the systems that produced the data,
through communications with knowledgeable officials in the Coast
Guard’s Office of Naval Engineering. On the basis of this assessment, we
determined that these data were sufficiently reliable for the purposes of
this report.
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GAO-08-660 Coast Guard
Appendix II: Number of 110-foot Patrol Boats
Stationed in Each U.S. Coast Guard District
Appendix II: Number of 110-foot Patrol Boats
Stationed in Each U.S. Coast Guard District
This appendix provides details on the areas and districts that host the
Coast Guard’s fleet of 41 110-foot patrol boats. District 7, including
Florida, Georgia, and South Carolina, hosts almost half of the Coast
Guard’s fleet of 110-foot patrol boats. District 8, including much of the Gulf
of Mexico, does not host any 110-foot patrol boats.
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GAO-08-660 Coast Guard
Appendix II: Number of 110-foot Patrol Boats
Stationed in Each U.S. Coast Guard District
Figure 7: Number of 110-Foot Patrol Boats Stationed in Each U.S. Coast Guard District
110-Foot Patrol Boat
PAC I F I C A R E A
AT L A N T I C A R E A
District 17 - 6
District 13 - 2
District 1 - 8
Dis
District
istrict
is
ct 9
District 11 - 1
District 5 - 3
District 8
District 14 - 4
District 7 - 17
Source: GAO (map art, analysis); MapResources (map); U.S. Coast Guard (photo images, data).
Note: Six 110-foot patrol boats are currently operating away from their home districts in support of
defense operations in the Persian Gulf as follows: three from District 1, one from District 5, and two
from District 7.
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GAO-08-660 Coast Guard
Appendix III: Periodic Deployment of Vessels
from Other Districts to District 7, Fiscal Year
2007
Appendix III: Periodic Deployment of Vessels
from Other Districts to District 7, Fiscal Year
2007
This appendix provides information on the periodic deployment of certain
Area- and District-controlled vessels to support District 7 operations in
fiscal year 2007. Figure 8 illustrates the vessels and their operational hours
that deployed from certain Atlantic Area districts and Joint Interagency
Task Force-South to support District 7 operations in fiscal year 2007.
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GAO-08-660 Coast Guard
Appendix III: Periodic Deployment of Vessels
from Other Districts to District 7, Fiscal Year
2007
Figure 8: Periodic Deployment of Area and District Vessels from Other Districts and Joint Interagency Task Force-South to
District 7 in Fiscal Year 2007
D O N AT E D B OATS
Buoy Tender
Medium Endurance Cutter
87-foot Patrol Boat
Navy 179-foot Patrol Coastal
AT L A N T I C A R E A
District 1
(1) Buoy Tender (500 hours)
Medium Endurance Cutter (264 hours)
District 5
(1) Buoy Tender (419 hours)
Medium Endurance Cutter (540 hours)
District 7
Miami
Joint Interagency
Task Force-South
Medium Endurance
Cutter (700 hours)
District 8
(1) Buoy Tender (548 hours)
(6) 87-foot Patrol Boats (1,130 hours)
Medium Endurance Cutter (2,420 hours)
Navy 179-foot Patrol Coastal (1,608 hours)
Key West
Source: GAO (map art, analysis); MapResources (map); U.S. Coast Guard (photo images, data).
Page 48
GAO-08-660 Coast Guard
Appendix III: Periodic Deployment of Vessels
from Other Districts to District 7, Fiscal Year
2007
Notes: Photographs were located on the U.S. Coast Guard Pier System Web site and U.S. Coast
Guard Visual Information Server, both of which provide photographs for public use. The buoy tender
photo was taken by PA3 John Edwards, the medium endurance cutter photo was taken by Petty
Officer First Class NyxoLyno Cangemi, and the 87-foot patrol boat photo was taken by PA2 Tiffany
Powell.
This figure illustrates a change in tactical control for these deployed vessels from the donating entity
to District 7, not necessarily the geographic area of operation of the vessels (i.e., the vessels did not
necessarily operate in Miami, but under the control of the District 7 Command, which extends from
the coast of South Carolina south to Puerto Rico).
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GAO-08-660 Coast Guard
Appendix IV: Condition Measures for the
Coast Guard’s Eight Double-Crewed 110-foot
Patrol Boats, Fiscal Years 2004 through 2007
Appendix IV: Condition Measures for the
Coast Guard’s Eight Double-Crewed 110-foot
Patrol Boats, Fiscal Years 2004 through 2007
This appendix provides more details on the condition of the Coast Guard’s
110-foot double-crewed patrol boats. Specifically, the figures illustrate the
values, for the eight double-crewed 110-foot patrol boats, of four specific
measures used by the Coast Guard to monitor the condition of its vessels.
Note that double crewing of these eight patrol boats began in February
2007. In general, they show that the condition and availability of these
vessels improved during the year of double crewing (fiscal year 2007) over
prior years for nearly all of these measures.
Figure 9: Capacity for Double-Crewed 110-foot Patrol Boats, Fiscal Years 2004
through 2007
Percent
70
Target 60 percent
Target 65 percent
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
2004
2005
2006
2007
Fiscal year
Capacity
Source: GAO (analysis); U.S. Coast Guard (data).
Note: Capacity refers to the percentage of time that a vessel is not in maintenance status.
Page 50
GAO-08-660 Coast Guard
Appendix IV: Condition Measures for the
Coast Guard’s Eight Double-Crewed 110-foot
Patrol Boats, Fiscal Years 2004 through 2007
Figure 10: Unscheduled Maintenance Days (UMD) for Double-Crewed 110-foot
Patrol Boats, Fiscal Years 2004 through 2007
Percent
3.5
3
2.5
2
1.5
1
Target 0.8 percent
0.5
0
2004
2005
2006
2007
Fiscal year
UMD
Source: GAO (analysis); U.S. Coast Guard (data).
Note: Unscheduled Maintenance Days refers to the percentage of time that a vessel class spends in
unscheduled maintenance status over the time period being measured.
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GAO-08-660 Coast Guard
Appendix IV: Condition Measures for the
Coast Guard’s Eight Double-Crewed 110-foot
Patrol Boats, Fiscal Years 2004 through 2007
Figure 11: Percent of Time Fully Mission Capable (PTFMC) for Double-Crewed 110foot Patrol Boats, Fiscal Years 2004 through 2007
Percent
100
Target 95 percent
90
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
2004
2005
2006
2007
Fiscal year
PTFMC
Source: GAO (analysis); U.S. Coast Guard (data).
Note: Percent of Time Fully Mission Capable refers to the percentage of operational time that a
vessel has no open major casualties (i.e., deficiencies in mission-essential equipment that cause the
major degradation of a primary mission or loss of at least one primary mission).
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GAO-08-660 Coast Guard
Appendix IV: Condition Measures for the
Coast Guard’s Eight Double-Crewed 110-foot
Patrol Boats, Fiscal Years 2004 through 2007
Figure 12: Average Number of Casualties per Operational Day (ANOCOP) for
Double-Crewed 110-foot Patrol Boats, Fiscal Years 2004 through 2007
ANOCOP
2.5
2
1.5
1
0.5
Target 0.3
0
2004
2005
2006
2007
Fiscal year
ANOCOP
Source: GAO (analysis); U.S. Coast Guard (data).
Note: Average Number of Casualties per Operational Day refers to the number of major casualties
that remain open each operational day.
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GAO-08-660 Coast Guard
Appendix V: GAO Contacts and
Acknowledgements
Appendix V: GAO Contacts and
Acknowledgments
GAO Contact
Stephen L. Caldwell (202) 512-9610, or caldwells@gao.gov
Acknowledgments
This report was prepared under the direction of Christopher Conrad,
Assistant Director. Key contributors to this report also included William
Bates, Adam Couvillion, Katherine Davis, Michele Fejfar, Geoff Hamilton,
and Landis Lindsey.
Page 54
GAO-08-660 Coast Guard
Related GAO Products
Related GAO Products
Status of Selected Aspects of the Coast Guard’s Deepwater Program.
GAO-08-270R. Washington, D.C.: Mar. 11, 2008.
Coast Guard: Observations on the Fiscal Year 2009 Budget, Recent
Performance, and Related Challenges. GAO-08-494T. Washington, D.C.:
Mar. 6, 2008.
Coast Guard: Deepwater Program Management Initiatives and Key
Homeland Security Missions. GAO-08-531T. Washington, D.C.: Mar. 5,
2008.
Coast Guard: Challenges Affecting Deepwater Asset Deployment and
Management and Efforts to Address Them. GAO-07-874. Washington,
D.C.: June 18, 2007.
Coast Guard: Status of Efforts to Improve Deepwater Program
Management and Address Operational Challenges. GAO-07-575T.
Washington, D.C.: Mar. 8, 2007.
Coast Guard: Preliminary Observations on Deepwater Program Assets
and Management Challenges. GAO-07-446T. Washington, D.C.: Feb. 15,
2007.
Coast Guard: Coast Guard Efforts to Improve Management and Address
Operational Challenges in the Deepwater Program. GAO-07-460T.
Washington, D.C.: Feb. 14, 2007.
Homeland Security: Observations on the Department of Homeland
Security’s Acquisition Organization and on the Coast Guard’s
Deepwater Program. GAO-07-453T. Washington, D.C.: Feb. 8, 2007.
Coast Guard: Status of Deepwater Fast Response Cutter Design Efforts.
GAO-06-764. Washington, D.C.: June 23, 2006.
Coast Guard: Changes to Deepwater Plan Appear Sound, and Program
Management Has Improved, but Continued Monitoring Is Warranted.
GAO-06-546. Washington, D.C.: Apr. 28, 2006.
Coast Guard: Progress Being Made on Addressing Deepwater Legacy
Asset Condition Issues and Program Management, but Acquisition
Challenges Remain. GAO-05-757. Washington, D.C.: July 22, 2005.
Page 55
GAO-08-660 Coast Guard
Related GAO Products
Coast Guard: Preliminary Observations on the Condition of Deepwater
Legacy Assets and Acquisition Management Challenges. GAO-05-651T.
Washington, D.C.: June 21, 2005.
Coast Guard: Preliminary Observations on the Condition of Deepwater
Legacy Assets and Acquisition Management Challenges. GAO-05-307T.
Washington, D.C.: Apr. 20, 2005.
Coast Guard: Deepwater Program Acquisition Schedule Update Needed.
GAO-04-695. Washington, D.C.: June 14, 2004.
Contract Management: Coast Guard’s Deepwater Program Needs
Increased Attention to Management and Contractor Oversight. GAO-04380. Washington, D.C.: Mar. 9, 2004.
Coast Guard: Actions Needed to Mitigate Deepwater Project Risks. GAO01-659T. Washington, D.C.: May 3, 2001.
Coast Guard: Progress Being Made on Deepwater Project, but Risks
Remain. GAO-01-564. Washington, D.C.: May 2, 2001.
Coast Guard’s Acquisition Management: Deepwater Project’s
Justification and Affordability Need to Be Addressed More Thoroughly.
GAO/RCED-99-6. Washington, D.C.: Oct. 26, 1998.
(440643)
Page 56
GAO-08-660 Coast Guard
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